I have much more confidence in my ability, or any president or any leader's ability, to mobilize the American people around a multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment to help every child in poverty in this country than I am in being able to mobilize the country around providing a benefit specific to African Americans as a consequence of slavery and Jim Crow.
Interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates
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More from Barack Obama
a belief that our military and law enforcement owe allegiance not to any president or political party, but to the people and our constitution … a belief in the peaceful transfer of power
Every president here today, as different as we are, has tried our best to uphold the values that John McCain and Mitt Romney believed in no less than I did.
That's what I hope every visitor to this center takes away from their experience.
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