I watched the History Channel's MLK story tonight and thought that Obama's

[Botany]

3-18-08 speech will someday be studied and read just like some of
Dr. King's speeches. Barack really is something special and his speech
on race, America, religion, and the politics of planned distraction is
one for the ages.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/18/obama-race-speech-read-t_n_92077.html

"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union."

Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787

snip

But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.

*******************

There is real power and wisdom in his words and Dr. King lives on in them.

[1620rock]

1. BHO is no MLK.

[AX10]

2. That's right.

Obama has a long way to go before that!

[scheming daemons]

4. Not yet.... but your grandkids will talk about him the way we talk about MLK

..

[TTUBatfan2008]

39. No they won't...

Barack is a politician. MLK was the leader of a movement to finally create some equality in this country, and as MLK once said, we haven't reached the promised land yet but we will one day get there. MLK was more important than pretty much any politician in this nation's history. There's only a couple that rival his influence and that would be the Founding Fathers, Lincoln, and FDR.

[SunsetDreams]

7. Did the OP say...

that he/she thought that Barack was Martin Luther King JR?

No, not at all. Instead of having an intelligent conversation as to why you may or may not think his speech will be for the history books, you come in here with what you think is a brilliant response.

[goclark]

19. I was in college during the time of Dr. King's

Marches and Speeches.

At that time, there were many that hated him,said it was stupid that he was against the war.
Said it was stupid to have all those Marches and Prayers.

Those were glorious days for his followers ( and I was certainly one) and there were many,many days of despair.

He was in jail, he was put down by many in America.

Now when I see all of the honors, it is bitter sweet.

To say that Barack Obama is no MLK seems to imply that Barack Obama does not have worth and value.
I'm sure that you don't mean it that way but it gives the suggestion.

Barack Obama is not trying to be MLK,no one can BE MLK ~ he was for a different time, a different Century.

I do believe that Barack Obama is a 21st Century Messenger for Dr. King.

And the beauty of NOW is that there are millions of people all over this world that understand the
DREAM.

Thank you Dr. King :grouphug:

Thank you Sen. Obama:grouphug:

[WillyT]

24. Beautiful Post goclark... Thank YOU !!!

:grouphug:

[anamandujano]

34. Everybody already understood Obama's dream. He wants to be president.

[goclark]

40. His dream to be President is the dream of millions of others

we are in his corner 100%
Thank you for that inspirational message.

I've just donated another $25 to his campaign.

[liberaldem4ever]

38. What you said was beautiful

That is the way I think of Barack Obama too. :)

[EffieBlack]

3. You are so right

Long after the petty controversy over Rev. Wright is forgotten (or remembered as the distorted, disingenous but ultimately ineffective political attack that it was), Obama's speech will be remembered as a watershed moment in American political - in fact, just plain American - history and will be studied, praised and admired for years to come.

[Botany]

6. The speech reads even better than his spoken form of it.

I remember as a child being told by a neighbor that MLK was
a "commie ist" and the petty attacks on Barack's speech will
be shown by history to be either or vile or just plan petty.

[The_Casual_Observer]

5. It's already been forgotten. The intent of his speech was to cover his ass.

There was nothing original in that speech, it only sounded good to people that don't know anything.

[undeterred]

8. A lot of people who know a lot about everything

thought it was a remarkable speech. You'd have to be pretty damn cynical not to think so.

[Pirate Smile]

30. "Cynicism Is Sorry Kind of Wisdom"

Barack Obama

[scheming daemons]

10. Your grandkids will study that speech in school...

....

[EFerrari]

11. This literary critic disagrees with you. n/t

[Botany]

16. It really is a remarkable piece of work.

I printed a copy for my son (13 years old) for him to read ....
so we can talk about it .... I asked him to read it so over the
next few nights we can talk about it going over no more than 5
paragraphs @ a time. (and keeping our talks short) I want
him to tell me what he thinks it means and what is being said.
Their is a real richness to the way he explains complex ideas
in simple terms but@ the same time treats the reader or the
listener as "an adult."

BTW I love the short declarative sentences he uses and they
way he started and finished "it."

please don't grade my writing to harshly ... :rofl:

[EFerrari]

18. His cadence is remarkable. As I said, I haven't done an analysis

but if your ear is musical at all, you can hear it.

And, on top if the merely literary value, his delivery was nearly perfect. :hi:

[Botany]

20. Read it and tell me that it does not read better than it was spoken

... and his spoken version was awesome. It had me crying.

and I am dude too.

[Botany]

12. I pity you ... I really do.

I hope you find some peace someday.

[pocoloco]

14. Sure sounded good to me!!!

And I know that I don't know!!

LOL

[EffieBlack]

17. How sad that it went right over your head

There were plenty of people who dismissed the "I Have a Dream" speech as forgettable pap, as well. History has proven them wrong, as I will suspect it will you, as well.

[The_Casual_Observer]

23. You are easily taken in, how sad for you.

[TomBall Democrat]

25. Harsh words.

Amazing energy must be required for maintaining your level of anger.

[goclark]

32. I know a lot and it was magnificent to me

You forgot to put the :sarcasm: in your post.

[DB1]

35. Wow, how many millions did you just throw under your bus?

[Forkboy]

37. You're as deep as a sidewalk puddle.

[SunsetDreams]

9. I agree Botany...

I think his speech is one for the history books, and one that will be remembered for years.

[EFerrari]

13. I've been too swamped to write about it but am saving it,

like a sweet, for later. :toast:

[ClayZ]

15. You are so right!

K and R

[tishaLA]

21. I'll be teaching it this summer

It's a class for underrepresented/low income kids (and adults) who are transferring into my school from community colleges--kinda like a boot camp to get them acclimated to the rigors of a top tier school. I change around themes somewhat each year, and this year my class will be "The Making of the Americans," which is also the name of a great book by Gertrude Stein. I'm sure it will be fascinating because the class is almost exclusively Latino and African American (but predominantly Latino), so I'll be interested to see how these students look at Obama's speech....alongside things like colonial writers, Frederick Douglass, etc.

[DB1]

22. K& R The greatest speech I have heard AS it was given in my life....

thanks to C-SPAN. I also listened to it that day 2 more times .. once with my family, we were captivated and proud. We are at the brink of recapturing America as it was meant to be. No more BS, a top of his class Harvard grad, with great judgment, that can lead and can recognize prejudice and can come to grips with and temper any of his own. I believe he truly gets it.

[billbuckhead]

26. That speech was done to give cover for running as a post racial candidate during the week

and going to church on Sunday in an ethnocentric church. Hypocrite. This speech will be always be remembered as the "throwing his grandmother under the bus" speech.

[DB1]

27. You know , sometimes ..........

[Botany]

29. Please show me the bus .... rofl

Funny it seems like he says that he loves her and would never disown her.

<I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.>

[DB1]

31. That is the way I heard it and read it. Absolutely profound in it's ...

direct, simplistic and yet encompassing affect.

[shifting_sands]

28. MLK

Martin Luther King was revered by a very small portion of society in his day and mostly that was the Africian/American society. If it had not been for his ability to communicate without rancor to politicians and if it had not been for Coretta Scott King's persistence and the NAACP's drive to make him special he would not have been. MLK had been working toward Civil Rights since the mid-fifties and was always in danger. He was considered a rabel rouser and a dangerous menace to society. His speeches were not considered great by anyone except those who were anxious for Civil Rights in this country. Those people who inside were sickened because of the way Black citizens were treated in this country.

When the schools in the south were de-segregated with the help of the National Guard, little children were getting off their buses to rotton food being thrown at them and white adults screaming obscenities at these children and it was televised.

Perhaps Obama's speech will not be thought of as great, perhaps it will just disappear like so many great speeches, but there was a day when the majority of this country would not have thought Martin Luther King's speeches would ever be considered great much less the man.

The Kennedy's could write and give a speech, but there were other speeches just as great that never made the headlines. Robert Byrd has made some of the greatest speeches about the Constitution ever given, who listens? Al Sharpton has made some great speeches with great truths in them but who listens?

I don't know if Obama's speech will be considered great, but he said directly what needed to be said and what America if they want to listen, needs to hear. Was it just covering his butt, maybe but it was the most honest direct butt covering I've heard from a politician whether that was Bill Clinton, George Bush, Hillary etc. Is Obama a great leader? I don't know, no one does but if we stop looking for him to be great and start looking toward our own greatness perhaps together we can accomplish something great, just like Martin Luther King accomplished with Lyndon Johnson and the millions who stood with them.

[anamandujano]

33. As post #5 said, Obama's motive was impure.

If that speech is ever compared to a King speech, historians will compare it on that basis alone.

Motive.

[DB1]

36. Get ready to eat pie. Humble, that is. IMHO