America's biggest issues will persist into the new year no matter who wins Nov. 4, said Charles Ogletree Jr., Harvard's Jesse Climenko Professor of Law, speaking Oct. 7 at the ILR School.

"I've been cautioning people, especially African-Americans, about romanticizing what it means to elect Barack Obama. It doesn't mean we will end poverty or have universal health care in 100 days. Even a Democrat will have difficulty getting things done with a Democratic Congress," Ogletree told more than 120 people at the school's annual Milton Konvitz Memorial Lecture, with another 200 watching via an ILR webcast. His talk was titled "The Combustible Mixture of Race, Gender, Religion and Politics: Lessons Learned From the 2008 Political Campaign."

"There's an interesting dichotomy in this election," said Ogletree, the founding executive director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School. "There is a cognizable number of whites who won't vote for Obama. The question is, will they come out to vote for McCain? I think they will be split."

Ogletree, who said he knew Michelle and Barack Obama when they were students at Harvard, has spoken to the Democratic candidate about the election. "I told Barack Obama that I want this over by 11:55 on Nov. 4. He said he'd do his best."

Ogletree said that in this year's presidential campaign, "It's inconceivable that America would turn its back on this opportunity for change. I think America is ready, and I think there are going to be some very significant surprises."

Mary Catt is a writer for the ILR School.