Obama Hits Boston & Talks Racial Relations in New Hampshire

ABC News’ Sunlen Miller reports: The night was overcast, but the stage was lit up by Deval Patrick and Barack Obama  in front of a crowd thousands deep in Boston Tuesday.

Accepting the key endorsement of Deval Patrick, Massachusetts’s first black governor, Obama showed his thanks not only to the governor but to the city, “I had a convention speech in Boston that went pretty well and had an ally that I decided I would support for governor of Massachusetts and that went pretty well. So I think I might as well keep it going and go ahead and win the presidency.”

Obama continued, almost preaching to the crowd, “Sometimes, Deval and I have the same problem, sometimes, because we have kind of a calm demeanor, people have a tendency to think we may be pushovers. Sometimes they think well you don’t shout at people enough. You’re not stabbing them in the back enough. But don’t underestimate those who are speaking softly but carrying a big stick.”

Governor Patrick gave a rousing speech before the Boston crowd in addition, saying, “As a Democrat, I feel very proud that the field of Democratic contenders is so strong. Many are friends and colleagues with whom I have worked over the years. But frankly I believe the importance of this election transcends friendship and party. I believe we need unified, visionary leadership.”

Patrick’s endorsement is especially sweet for Obama given the governor’s ties to the Clintons, serving under Bill Clinton as head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division.

Patrick went on, “I don’t care whether the next president is the first black president or the first woman president or the first whatever…..What I care about is whether the next president has moral courage and a political backbone and the humility to admit what he doesn’t know and the wisdom to learn from others.”

Obama vying to be the first black president may not have played as much into the governor’s endorsement as it did from a voter Obama met at a house party earlier in the day in Merrimack, New Hampshire.

Raising his hand and saying “it’s a race issue” a supporter told Obama about his adopted daughter from Ethiopia, and how Obama is a potential role model to his daughter, proving she is not an outsider.

Obama responded by saying, “I think America looks at itself differently the day when I am inaugurated,….not just black children, but white children, in changing perceptions about who is in power and who is not and how people rank in our society.”