the notion of a new kind of america, an america that combined the old america of ann dunham's family and africans and of his father's family. but there are far more complicated story. she's always been a bit of a problem for him. she's this anthropologist who lives half her life in indonesia and even now in the end of his second term rudy giuliani is bringing her up as a weapon against him. they are a volatile situation for him. >> i also feel like -- maybe this is me reading too much of my own self into it but my mother is a white woman who grew up out west in washington, grew up as a mormon girl. you're not a white woman who raises an african-american child who has a strong racial identity without confronting american inequality. there are a few people who could tell you more about race and inequal ta and what's wrong and good about america because to be a white mother of a black child is to confront that. so i feel like when you bring up ann dunham those are fighting words because we know what those women had to confront. >> it's more his grandparents in that influence. the conver