issues and we were horrified by who we were. part of what happened was that barack obama reminded us of the best of our american narrative, the yes, we can. we rejected grandma on the roof of her home for days starving, dehydrating, and we said instead we can be a better country. so civil rights were at the core part of what americans were yearning for in the 2008 election. >> you wrote today at the nation about obama in the age of accommodation, which is a hard thing to think about when talking about civil rights and justice issues because that's an area that doesn't feel very gray. it feels very black and white. >> the age of accommodation is what we call that turn of the century moment when booker t. washington was the premier black leader and where he did things like basically accommodate to issues as horrifying as lynching. and after the signing of the tax bill, i'd had an african-american activist friend whisper the words booker t. washington to me about barack obama and it hit me in such a