Obama Touches on Race, Working-Class Roots in Colorado Pitch

(GOLDEN, Colo.) --  President Obama on Thursday credited an affordable college education with helping a “mixed kid from Hawaii” and a “little black girl from the South Side of Chicago” make history in the White House.

“Education was a gateway of opportunity for me,” Obama told the crowd in Colorado. “Let's face it. You know, a mixed kid from Hawaii born to a single mom is not likely to become president of the United States. But in America, it can happen because of education, because somebody gave me opportunity.

“You know, a little black girl from South Side of Chicago whose mom's a secretary and dad's a blue-collar worker -- you know, not likely to become first lady of the United States,” he said, referring to his wife, Michelle. “But it happened because she got a great education even though her folks didn't have a lot of money.”

It’s a story that has become a focal point of Obama’s pitch in Colorado and other swing states -- part rebuttal to GOP challenger Mitt Romney’s call to curtail federal aid for higher education; part proof that he better understands struggles of the middle class.

Education is “the gateway of opportunity for middle-class families, for those who were willing hard to get into the middle class and stay there,” Obama said.

By infusing his story with references to race, something Obama does not often speak about publicly, he also reminds minority voters that they too can defy the odds. In states like Colorado, the inspirational message could help turnout women, Hispanics and African-Americans, whom Obama is relying on to win.

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