Tuesday, Jan. 20

Periods 1, 3, 4, 7
1. Read-On

For fifth period only

President Obama: The Significance of the Moment
By: Sam Stein of the Huffington Post (An online Internet newspaper). November 5, 2008.

Nearly two years after he announced his intentions to run for the White House, Barack Obama
returned to Chicago on Tuesday night ( November 4, 2008 election night), triumphant in his
quest for the presidency.

The president-elect -- the first African American to assume the post in American history --
achieved the task with a mandate to proclaim. As of Wednesday morning he had won 349
Electoral College votes, poaching traditionally Republicans states like Indiana and Virginia as
well as bitterly-fought battlegrounds like Ohio and Florida. Of the estimated 133 million votes
cast (62 percent of eligible voters went to the polls), he had received 52 percent to John
McCain's 46 percent -- the first Democrat to earn a majority since Jimmy Carter in 1976.

More important, he recruited to his candidacy voters of all stripes: black, white, and Hispanic,
southerners and northerners, educated and non-educated, the politically engaged and those
who had previously stayed on the sidelines.

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are
possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions
the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer," Obama triumphantly declared. "It's the
answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has
never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in
their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that
difference."

Democrats, after eight years of frustrations and ideological setbacks during the Bush years,
where given the permission to peak at the road ahead. What would this mean for Iraq? For
global warming? For America's image around the world?

Obama, too, was making plans for the future. Not content to be caught flat-footed, he offered
the post of White House Chief of Staff to Rep. Rahm Emanuel. Similar preparations were being made for other cabinet positions. His campaign had been a well-oiled machine; his
transition promised to operate the same way.

But the numbers and the process told only half the sto ry, and the drier half at that.

Obama's victory was, at once, sweeping and historic. An African American man, one
generation removed from the height of civil rights tensions, had ascended to the White House. Only a few years in the Senate, he had defeated a decorated war hero and, before that, the
wife of a former president, by revolutionizing the way a politician relates to the public.

For Republicans even, it was hard to deny the emotional symbolism of it all. In a gracious
concession speech, Sen. John McCain offered his admiration to his future president for
"inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they
had so little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president."

"This is an historic election and I recognize the special significance it has for African-
Americans," he added. "And for the special prize that must be theirs tonight. I always believe
that America offers opportunities to all who have the industry and will to seize it."

Speaking to reporter the following morning, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice seemed
genuinely moved by the events. The United States, she said, "continues to surprise. It
continues to renew itself, to beat all odds and expectations. You know Americans will not be
satisfied until they form that more perfect union."

Stalwarts of the African-American political community were affected as well. Rep. John Lewis
called the Obama win a non-violent revolution. Rep. James Clyburn remarked that he would
now be able to tell school children with conviction that they can be whatever they want in life.

And so, Obama enters the White House with a different type of mandate than presidents past:
one that is as based as much on an emotional connection to voters and colleagues as it is on
political influence. To be sure, he has plenty of the latter: Accompanying last night's
(November 4, 2008 election night) win were the gains that Democrats made in congressional
elections. On January 20, President Obama will have approximately 56 Democratic Senators
and more than 250 Democratic members of the House of Representatives with whom he can
craft a legislative agenda.

The challenges, even with the deck stacked this way, will be daunting: an economy that is in
deep crisis, wars waging in two hot spots in the Middle East, state budgets that are crumbling,
and a health care system bursting at the seams. Obama, for his part, seems to understand the
enormity of the task ahead.

"There will be setbacks and false starts," he told the crowd last night. "There are many who
won't agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government
can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I
will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of
Adapted by Dr. G. Solomon/ 08-09
remaking this nation the only way it's been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one
years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand."

Please answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper

(20 points)
1. Which of the following would be another good title for this article?
A) President-Elect Obama: Insignificant to History
B) President Obama: An Historic Election
C) President-Elect Obama: Thanking His Supporters
D) President Obama: Picks Some of His Cabinet

(20 points)
2. What does the author mean by stating:
“But the numbers and the process told only half the story, and the drier half at
that.”?
A) That the statistics from the election are only part of the story; the more interesting
part of Obama’s story rests in the fact that he is the first African-American to be
elected to the Presidency
B) That the statistics and number of votes that Obama won tell the most interesting
part of Obama’s election to the Presidency
C) That the manner in which Obama won his Presidential election campaign is the
most important part of the story; race is an uninteresting and insignificant part of
the story.
D) That the most interesting part of the story of how Obama won the presidency lies
in the fact that many different types of Americans votes for him

(20 points)
3. Which of the following are mentioned in the article as “daunting challenges” that
Obama will face as President?
A) Famine and genocide in Africa
B) The economy and two wars in the Middle East
C) Race relations in the United States
Adapted by Dr. G. Solomon/ 08-09
D) A Democratic-controlled Congress

(20 points)
4. Which of the following statements from the article BEST supports the idea that John
McCain recognized the historical importance of Obama’s victory?
A) Sen. John McCain offered his admiration to his future president for "inspiring the
hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly0Abelieved that they
had so little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president."
B) Obama's victory was, at once, sweeping and historic. An African American man,
one generation removed from the height of civil rights tensions, had ascended to
the White House.
C) "If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all
things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our
time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer…"
D) "This is an historic election and I recognize the special significance it has for
African-Americans, and for the special prize that must be theirs tonight. I always
believe that America offers opportunities to all who have the industry and will to
seize it."

(20 points)
Read, Think, Explain:
5. Using details and information found in the article, answer the following question:
What evidence is provided in the article to show that Obama realizes the difficult job that20awaits
him as President of the United States?

(this is a short-response question so you need to provide at least two details)

The author provides a lot of evidence in the article to show that Obama realizes the difficult job that awaits him as President of the United States.