real tender moment. there s a beautiful photo from that from that moment. but as jelani said, if this man after 27 years in prison could bring down the institution of apartheid and become president of the same country that imprisoned him, anyone can do anything when faced with challenges, including an african-american man become k president of the united states. i think that broader symbolism meant a lot to president obama. there have been for several years now of course a number of comparisons made between nelson mandela and president obama. the washington post characterized how the president in the past has dealt with those comparisons saying in part, quote, the american president regularly shied from direct comparisons with mr. mandela. mr. obama often noted privately and publicly that his sacrifices would never compare to mr. mandela s. aide to mr. obama said he was uncomfortable when people drew parallels between them as often