Martin H. Nesbitt

[Referring to friendship with Obama] "We met on the basketball court in Chicago and had been playing against and with each other for a number of years when our wives paths crossed at the University of Chicago."

"And I think under no uncertain terms that race was part of that toolbox for some presidents, it doesn't make all of them racist. It makes all of them or a lot of them willing to use race to create some sort of strategic advantage as we sort of get time and space between then and now. Isn't it interesting that what he started out to do is sort of being manifested now in issues that the Republican Party is facing? The dynamic that really crested with that party during his two terms as president is the exact dynamic that is hurting them right now. And ultimately it may be the Obama presidency that fundamentally changes the Republican Party, right? It didn't happen in the instant we thought but that over time, that sort of last gasp to use race as a tool, to use sexism as a tool may ultimately be the thing that drives more harmony in DC and changes fundamentally what that party stands for."

"But I find it interesting now at this moment to look at dynamics in that party and see it sort of fraying as a result of strategic choices that were made during his two terms as president. He was a great political strategist and he always thought about the war rather than the battle. He had great patience and I think outsmarted the opposition over and over and over again. And I think some of them must be sitting around and saying how did he outsmart us again? But I think he outsmarted them many, many times and made them make choices that in retrospect probably didn't make much sense. I think he sort of recognized that in spite of his accomplishments and in spite of how the country had evolved that there was still great risk to being an African American male. There are still pockets and places and nooks and crannies where biases and racism and assumptions about who people are put some of us at great risk. And I think that was a moment of clarity that while we've come a long way, there's still an incredibly long way to go to get where we ought to be as a country. Around this issue of race, he learned over time how to play that instrument, and he learned how delicate that issue, the issue of race remained in this country."