Obama's big gamble

Barack Obama has gone further than any previous African-American candidate in the race for the White House. He has easily outshone Jesse Jackson and certainly Al Sharpton. Part of Obama's appeal has been his vision of a true United States of America, not one segmented into ethnic groups. As he memorably put in 2004 at the Democratic convention: "There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America, there's the United States of America."