It's symbolic, if coincidental, that tonight Barack Obama will accept the Democratic Party nomination for president of the United States, on the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.
The New York Times has a moving article today focusing on the handful of Democratic delegates who will be there tonight and who were also there for King's famous speech on the National Mall on August 28th, 1963.
From a practical standpoint, when it is so urgent to get the Republicans out of power before they further wreck the country, I am sorry it's not Hillary up there. I am still not confident that Obama can defeat McCain, although I am pretty sure Hillary would have.
However, from a standpoint of seeing how far America has come, there is something wonderful about seeing Barack Obama, a black man, standing up there as the presidential candidate of a major party. Forty-five years ago, when black men and women were still being beaten in the streets of America for trying to claim their basic rights, it could only be a dream -- and the most bold thing that Martin Luther King Jr. could do was to relate that simple dream.
Today, Barack Obama is a symbol of how far America has progressed. Today it is a black man who may lead our nation. That's change I can believe in.
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