Essence

Most Influential of 2007:
Barak Obama: READERS' CHOICE AFRICAN-AMERICAN OF THE YEAR
by TATSHA ROBERTSON

U.S. SENATOR (D–IL), PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL

It's been three years since the brilliant lawyer from Chicago's South Side took the country by storm with an electrifying speech at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Barack Obama has continued to excite Americans ever since. While critics have dubbed him a neophyte in a field of more seasoned politicians, the U.S. senator has promised a new approach to politics. He sells his Washington outsider status, his work as a community organizer and his diverse background—his father was from Kenya and his mother is a White American—as a different set of skills that his rivals seemingly lack. His approach may be working, especially since he remains among the Democratic Party's leading candidates for nomination in the 2008 presidential election. In his historic bid to become the nation's first Black president, Obama has opened America's eyes to the possibility of having a Black family in the White House. "As president, obviously the day I am inaugurated the racial dynamics in this country will change to some degree," Barack has said. "If you've got Michelle as first lady, and Malia and Sasha running around the South Lawn, that changes how America looks at itself. It changes how White children think about Black children, and it changes how Black children think about Black children."

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