Obama: I Feel ‘a Great Urgency’ To Address Issues of Race Before I Leave Office

‘I feel a great urgency to get as much done as possible’

INSKEEP: “But is this also an issue where the first black president just couldn't attack it very hard in the first term, because other things had to be dealt with first, other ground had to be covered first? For political reasons, if not -- nothing else?”

OBAMA: “Well, yeah, see, that I don't buy. I -- I think it's fair to say that if, in my first term, Ferguson had flared up, as president of the United States, I would have been commenting on what was happening in Ferguson. So here's one thing I will say -- is that I feel a great urgency to get as much done as possible, and there's no doubt that, after over six and a half years on this job, I probably have an easier time juggling a lot of different issues, and it may be that my passions show a little bit more, just because I've been around this track now for a while.”

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