Obama Challenges African Americans to Aim Higher

As the nation's first black president, Barack Obama is in the unique position of being able to speak with unquestioned authority on what is possible for members of the African American community. Since early on in his campaign, Obama has been vocal about "calling out" Black America and urging them to demand more of themselves and their children. But he's doing it with an acknowledgment that blacks - and all minorities in the US - are still saddled with some inherent disadvantages that they must overcome.

Obama pointed to the Civil Rights movement and the energy and drive that was devoted to that movement. He called on African Americans to recapture that spirit in an effort to make broad gains across an entire group of Americans.

"Our kids can't all aspire to be the next LeBron or Lil Wayne. I want them aspiring to be scientists and engineers, doctors and teachers, not just ballers and rappers. I want them aspiring to be a Supreme Court justice. I want them aspiring to be president of the United States," he said.

"We need a new mindset, a new set of attitudes -- because one of the most durable and destructive legacies of discrimination is the way that we have internalized a sense of limitation; how so many in our community have come to expect so little of ourselves," he said.

Obama's message was clear, but it's difficult to say whether his intended audience was actually tuned in to what he was saying.