Obama's Debt To The 'Moses Generation'

Barack Obama has acknowledged that he owes a great debt to the "Moses generation" of American civil rights-era leaders — activists who made it possible for him to lead his own "Joshua generation."

Obama wrote in The Audacity of Hope that civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. fought for but never saw the "Promised land" of racial equality.

"I'm here because somebody marched," Obama said in a speech in Selma, Ala. "I'm here because you all sacrificed for me. I stand on the shoulders of giants."

Remnick is the editor-in-chief of The New Yorker, where his article "The Joshua Generation: Race and the campaign of Barack Obama" appeared on Nov. 17.