President Barack Obama, who made history four years ago when he was elected as the nation's first African-American president, accomplished a remarkable re-election victory despite having the highest unemployment rate any past president in the United States has faced.

No sitting president since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 has won a re-election with a high unemployment rate.

Obama will also go down in history books for breaking racism.

Obama's victory might have been dismissed as an accidental stroke of good luck had he not secured a second term.

As a mother and as a grandmother who has raised male children, I think that the symbolism of having a black man occupy the highest office is something that can inspire my children.

The New York Times has rightly noted that Barack Obama’s oratory conforms to the tripartite ideal laid down by Aristotle, who stated that good rhetoric should consist of pathos, logos and ethos - emotion, argument and character. It is in the projection of ethos that Obama particularly excels.

WARIS SHERE Canada