US President Barack Obama has said given a chance he would like to have dinner with Mahatma Gandhi,whom he considers a real hero. During his discussion with ninth-graders at Wakefield High School in Virginia,a student Lilly asked him: Hi. Im Lilly. And if you could have dinner with anyone,dead or alive,who would it be. Dinner with anyone dead or alive? Well,you know,dead or alive,thats a pretty big list, Obama responded. You know,I think that it might be Gandhi,who is a real hero of mine, Obama said. Now,it would probably be a really small meal because he didnt eat a lot, he said amid laughter. Calling Mahatma Gandhi as the source of inspiration for many,Obama said: He is somebody whom I find a lot of inspiration in. He inspired Dr King,so if it hadnt been for the non-violent movement in India,you might not have seen the same non-violent movement for civil rights here in the United States. He ended up doing so much and changing the world just by the power of his ethics,by his ability to change how people saw each other and saw themselves and help people who thought they had no power realise that they had power,and then help people who had a lot of power realise that if all theyre doing is oppressing people,then thats not a really good exercise of power, Obama said. Speech debate puzzles Obama Washington: US President Barack Obama said he found puzzling the furious debate leading up to his speech this week to US school children. I guess it was puzzling, Obama told ABC television in an interview broadcast on Wednesday. Obama noted that even though opposition to the address came mostly from right wing quarters,his address was ironically a very conservative message. AFP
