Barack Obama, the charismatic Democratic senator, invoked the spirit of Abraham Lincoln yesterday as he launched his campaign to become America's first black president with a speech reflecting his trademark eloquence and optimism. "It's time to turn the page, right here and right now," he told a crowd - chanting "Obama! Obama!" - outside the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois.
It was here that Lincoln delivered his famous anti-slavery address, declaring: "A house divided against itself cannot stand." Like Lincoln, who became president in 1861, Mr Obama, 45, spent eight years as a state legislator in Springfield before he was elected to the senate in 2004. He portrayed himself as a unifier who could transform the country. He reiterated his call for all US troops to leave Iraq by May next year. Mr Obama defended his decision to run after only two years in Washington. "I have been there long enough to know the ways of Washington must change," he said. |