Lessons From Presidents Past

Walter, good question. Modern critics often chastise Lincoln for not being more advanced on race issues, but in his own time he was viewed as dangerous by white slave-owners -- so dangerous that Southern slave states fled the Union rather than "submit" to the rule of a man they castigated as a pro-black abolitionist.

One similarity between Obama and Lincoln is that both men made crucial speeches on race: Lincoln at Cooper Union, Obama in Philadelphia, where I find myself tonight. Lincoln talked about America's "unfinished work" on race and Obama has made another giant stride toward completing it.