i'm doug blackmon.

your host, pulitzer prize-winning author and journalist doug blackmon. om the university of virginia's miller center, this is "american forum." doug: welcome back to "american forum."

your host, pulitzer prize-winning author and journalist, doug blackmon. ity of virginia's miller center, this is american forum. doug m. i'm doug bn.

doug blackmon, the miller center has chronicled presidents -- all of the modern presidents. i spent a lot of time on your website when i was writing my previous book. you've also written a lot about race, a lot about the tension in terms of mass incarceration and race. in your view is that where his big legacy item is, or is it something else? >> the single biggest legacy of president obama is being the first african-american president. by that alone he becomes a historic president, particularly as all of this tumult in politics begins to fade as years go by. i think historians will view him as a very historic president and a very successful president on a whole lot of fronts, but they will be more so in some respects the conventional ones. the economy recovered, industries were saved, tens of millions of people got health care and benefits. i think those will all look very strong in the future. i think it will be a bit ambiguous on the issue of race on exactly how much progress was substantively made. >> one more sound bite here, and this is president obama talking about wh