Two days ago Barack Obama accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for the President of the United States. It was also the 45th anniversary of the March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his historical I Have a Dream. At the foot of the Abraham Lincoln Memorial he expounded why blacks should receive full franchise as their white brethren. Much had changed during the past 45 years and Obama was proof of that. Though people had a right to say that Senator Obama giving the acceptance speech on the anniversary was providential, we must put each man in proper context. First, Dr. King was never a politician which was very important since he did not have to win public affection to advance his civil rights agenda. Obama would have to be elected. Second, though both men worked in community service, King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and his executive board of lieutenants drafted the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Act and the 24th Constitutional Amendment banning poll taxes at all voting booths to be ratified bu the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Senator Obama's senatorial record was an as illustrious. Furthermore, it was very rare for any sitting president to ratify a constitutional amendment. These two monumental differences were indispensable in understanding the key differences between King and Obama; and, how Barack should pave his own path instead of worrying about attempting to become the second coming of Dr. King.
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