President Obama: Racial Labels Don't Matter

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President Obama isn't concerned if
people see him as Black or Multi-
Racial, he explained on ABC's
"The View" today.

Barbara Walters wanted to know why
he didn't see himself as Bi-Racial.

Mr. Obama told of after going through
an identity crisis as a teen, it dawned
"if the world saw me as African American,
then that was something I needn't run
away from, that's something that I could
go ahead and embrace."

"I'm less interested in how we label
ourselves, I'm more interested in how we
treat each other. And if we're treating
each other right, then I can be African
American, I can be Multi-Racial, I can be
you name it, what matter is, am I showing
people respect, am I caring for other
people," he explained.

The Shirley Sherrod incident was mentioned.

"There are still inequalities out there.
There's still discrimination out there,"
he said. "But we've made progress."

There was concern, hopelessness, in the
country after his election. His administration
took steps in response to the economic decline,
such as bailing out the auto industry, became
controversial, he admitted.

"We live at a time when a lot of people are
thinking about the next election instead of
the next generation," he went on.

President Obama had criticism for being on the
show.