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 N'DJAMENA, Chad (AP) - From the day he won a U.S. Senate seat, Barack Obama captured national attention with his charisma and unique personal story. The question was what he would do with them. His two-week tour of Africa has helped suggest an answer.
Obama, known on the political stage mostly as an eloquent speaker and popular Democratic fundraiser, can point to the trip to show there's gravitas behind the glitz. He can try to position himself as a thinker on international affairs, from trade to terrorism.
It's a role that builds smoothly on his biography — son of an African father and Kansas mother, raised in Hawaii and Indonesia — to give Obama a meatier role than simply junior senator from Illinois.
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