Obama 'too busy' to think about safety

27 Nov 2008, 5:59 pm   -   Source: AAP
Share This

US President-elect Barack Obama says he is too busy to worry about his own security, despite an increase in racist threats since his election.

US President-elect Barack Obama says he is too busy to worry about his own security, despite an increase in racist threats since his election.

"I don't think about it," Obama told ABC television, in an interview on Wednesday.

"Partly because I've got this pretty terrific crew of Secret Service guys that follow me everywhere I go, but also because I have a deep religious faith, and a faith in people that carries me through the day."

Obama said his main task "is just to make sure I'm doing my job, and if I do, I can't worry about that kind of stuff."

The country's first African-American to win the presidency described his election as "an enormous vindication of the progress that we've made when it comes to race relations in America.

"The fact that people, if they voted for me or against me, overwhelmingly judged me on the basis of my platform, my plans, could I help the American middle class? That's how I was judged."

At the margins, "are there going to be extremists? Of course. That's true in any society. But they're not at the heart of who America is and what we believe."

And those racist elements are "going to be further marginalised, because the next generation ... is even more open to the idea of people from different backgrounds, races, religions, coming together to live out that American dream," Obama said.

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube