Barack Obama Invokes Martin Luther King, Jr.

There is little doubt that the closest to Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream being realized was the personification of it at Ebenezer Baptist Church on Sunday, the day before the official national holiday in honor of the Civil Rights leader. Barack Obama inspired a crowd of hundreds at the church to hear a living tribute to the legend.

Obama opened with the powerful imagery of the Battle of Jericho, an Old Testament biblical accounting of how Joshua made the walls come tumbling down. Obama spoke about today's "walls of Jericho" saying, "I'm not talking about a budget deficit. I'm not talking about a trade deficit. I'm not talking about a deficit of good ideas or new plans. I'm talking about a moral deficit." This type of powerful speech draws parallels between the Senator and the former leader by turning the conversation toward how to better the country. In the same breath, Barack Obama characterized himself as not only a leader of hope, but a leader of strength, something that he has been trying to achieve ever since Hillary Clinton has purported to be the expert leader of the democratic presidential nominee campaign.

Maintaining a consistency of straight talk and unabashed truth telling, Barack Obama discussed tough issues in front of the African-American audience, calling on fathers specifically to claim a more active role in the lives of their offspring and bringing up stereotypes that reside within the African-American community about other groups such as homosexuals. This did not dissuade the audience of predominantly African-American voters, but rather seemed to draw out a welcome relief from the burden of fitting into the stereotypical media image of the "African-American community."

Barack Obama created the kind of intimacy with his audience that has been the lynchpin of his campaign. His charisma and sincerity shone, especially when he deviated from the prewritten script released on Saturday of the speech he delivered. His momentum returned over the course of his speech and carried over into Monday during the Black Caucus debate. Throughout the Obama campaign, there have been moments. Moments when an invisible electricity spreads like wildfire and voters come out in record number in response. Sunday was the beginning of one such moment, Monday the continuation and this Saturday, January 26 will be the pinnacle of a "defining moment" for Barack Obama and his campaign.

While watching Senator Obama's speech and the crowd's reaction, one realization became clear. 'African-American' is not an all-encompassing term that stands for one walk of life, one set of beliefs, one way of thinking, but rather a humanity a fallibility inherent in every American, and through that, Martin Luther King's dream of unity is realized.

Sources:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/mlkvideo