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Author, Former Clinton Backer Toni Morrison Endorses Obama| News | BET.com

Posted Jan. 29, 2008 – Toni Morrison, the acclaimed African-American author who once dubbed Bill Clinton America ’s “first Black president,” says that Sen. Barack Obama is her choice this time around.

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In thinking carefully about the strengths of the candidates, I stunned myself when I came to the following conclusion: that in addition to keen intelligence, integrity and a rare authenticity, you exhibit something that has nothing to do with age, experience, race or gender and something I don't see in other candidates," she wrote in a letter to Obama. "That something is a creative imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom….There have been a few prescient leaders in our past, but you are the man for this time. Good luck to you and to us.

Obama, still reeling from the rousing endorsement he received from Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), said he was “deeply moved” by her support.

Toni Morrison has touched a nation with the grace and beauty of her words,” he said.

Morrison, who has won a Nobel Prize for Literature, is best known for such works as The Bluest Eye (1970), Song of Solomon (1977) and Beloved (1988), for which she won a Pulitzer Prize. A week ago, Alice Walker, who won the Pulitzer for fiction for her 1983 novel A Color Purple, also announced that she is endorsing Obama. The highly acclaimed poet Maya Angelou is an avid supporter of Clinton .

“As a child, Hillary Clinton was taught that all God’s children are equal, so as a mother she understood that her child wasn’t safe unless all children were safe,” Angelou said. “I know what kind of president Hillary Clinton will be because I know who she is. Hillary Clinton has always been a strong woman and a passionate protector of families. For 35 years, that’s exactly what she has been doing.

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