Obama writes a letter to the editor on voting rights

The New York Times got an interesting letter to the editor this week — from President Obama.

The president praised a recent Times magazine story on the Voting Rights Act, a piece that detailed attempts to undermine the law in the 50 years since it was signed.

"These efforts are not a sign that we have moved past the shameful history that led to the Voting Rights Act," Obama writes. "Too often, they are rooted in that history. They remind us that progress does not come easy, but that it must be vigorously defended and built upon for ourselves and future generations."

Citing one of the voting rights supporters profiled in the story, the nation's first African-American president wrote: "I am where I am today only because men and women like Rosanell Eaton refused to accept anything less than a full measure of equality. Their efforts made our country a better place. It is now up to us to continue those efforts."