What was Bobby thinking?

In 1961, as Attorney General of the United States, Bobby Kennedy said he envisioned "a negro president in about 40 years." Today, Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th president. What was Bobby thinking?

What led him to the number "40"? Was it just a random, off-the-top-of-his-head figure or some date too far in the future to matter at the time? Or did he have a more rational basis of reasoning for his semi-specific prediction? Perhaps, it was the recently passed civil rights legislation and he assumed that within a generation an African-American president could be realized. What was Bobby thinking?

When Martin Luther King was interviewed by the BBC in 1964, he was even more optimistic. You can see the video here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/default.stm. Dr. King predicted a black president within 25 years. His assessment was off by 20 years, which makes Mr. Kennedy's even more intriguing. Was he privy to intellegence as Attorney General? Was this some kind of conspiracy? You know, where the Illuminati/Club of Rome/Trilateral Commission all control world politics? Probably not.

I'd love to ask Ted or Caroline about this sort-of prediction. Until then, I consider this a lesson on VISION! Perhaps Bobby was taking the present circumstances, projecting, prognosticating the future possibilities and coming up with a time frame. He hypothesized - he guessed - with a certain amount of education directing his proposal. Maybe Bobby Kennedy was no seer or conspirator after all, maybe he just had VISION.

If that's the case, I can learn a lesson from yet another assassinated Kennedy: SEE THE FUTURE! Today, my friends, we are seeing Bobby's future!