How Mandela's struggle an ocean away inspired Obama the activist --- US president pays tribute to Nelson Mandela and describes how injustice of South African apartheid spurred him to political action -- The young black university student who walked up to the microphone at an anti-apartheid rally in 1980 was, by his own admission, cynical about the virtues of political activism. -- “I am one of the countless millions who drew inspiration from Nelson Mandela's life,” Obama said. “My very first political action, the first thing I ever did that involved an issue or a policy or politics, was a protest against apartheid. I studied his words and his writings.” -- Barack Obama was born in 1961, the year before Mandela began his nearly three-decade prison sentence. Obama was studying at Harvard Law School when Mandela was released from prison in 1990. -- Obama, of course, is not the only US president to draw inspiration from Mandela. All four living presidents – Jimmy Carter, George Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W Bush – lauded Mandela’s legacy. - More, Paul Lewis - Guardian