Leahy: ‘There Are Those Who Want Never To Have Another African-American President’

Sen. Leahy: "There Are Those Who Want Never To Have Another African-American President" (RealClearPolitics)

TAVIS SMILEY: Those who are pushing for these tough ID laws, there are those who cherish their right to vote, in part because, including the Supreme Court, I might add. Whose argument seems to be that in the era of the first African-American president, these voter ID laws, these laws in the Voting Rights Act specifically, are no longer necessary. We afterall, have an African-American president. How then does one make the argument that we still have to have these laws that carve out special privileges and special protections of African-Americans when they're done enough to elect a black president. 

SEN. PAT LEAHY (D-Vermont): Well I was and am a strong supporter of Barack Obama, he's one of 44 presidents. 43 White, 1 African-American. We've got to do more about that. But I also know that it is not just the president, it is the legislatures, the governors, the members of Congress. Because there are those who never want to have another African-American president, and that would be another very, very bad thing for this country. 

SMILEY: Or a woman, perhaps. 

SEN. LEAHY: Or a woman. It is all of us. I want every one of my grandchildren to be able to run for anything they want and not be discriminated against either because of their gender or because of their race, and two are of mixed race.