Is Being Biracial an Advantage for Obama?

Gates told ABCNEWS.com that he thinks Obama's speech was aimed at white voters in an effort to distance himself from the divisive comments made by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

"Nobody cares that he's biracial," said Gates. "It's not an issue anymore. The speech was to appease white people and to show that he does not embrace the frightening statements of Rev. Jeremiah Wright."

While no one can deny the senator's heritage and life experience, a group of black and biracial writers and an academic canvassed by ABCNEWS.com were conflicted over whether biracial experience could actually help Obama tackle race in America.

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Understanding 'Different Stories'

Obama, who described his vision of a perfect union Tuesday as a "more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America," urged Americans to realize their differences and also their commonalities — much as his own experience has forced him to do, he said.

"[W]e cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together … unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but all want to move in the same direction," Obama said at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

Being biracial, said Funderburg, allows a person insight into two very different worlds … a useful tool when trying to mediate issues between them.

"When you're biracial you can't deny either group without denying your own identity," said Funderburg. "You're more inclined to be able to see a group in its full dimensions — the good, the bad, the wise and the unwise."

"[Obama's] view of how important the union is and how important it is to transcend the divisions between us is deeply informed by his biracial experience," said Funderburg. "I identify with that viewpoint 100 percent."

"A particular gift biracial people are given is to be able to see the legitimacy of the concerns of more than one group and then see past that to a collective set of concerns," added Funderburg.

Rebecca Walker, the author of "Black, White, and Jewish," told ABCNEWS.com Obama's assertion that people of different races shouldn't forget their wounds, but work together to move on, embodies her own experience as a biracial person.