Republican slimers pay lip service to the 45th Anniversary of the "I have a dream speech" but either fail to recognize one of the most well known symbols of that speech, or are so beyond redemption that they just don't care. Can't edit the poll now, but it should read
Are those pushing "Barackopolis" stupid or sleazy?
For many of us, Martin Luther King Junior's "I have a dream speech" equals or surpasses anything else either spoken or written about our country. Chills go down my spine every time I hear the speech, to me and many others it is the essence of what America is all about. It was a signal moment in American history. A man who had been beaten, jailed, merely because he expected his country, our country, to live its promise that all men should be treated as they were created - equally, spoke not in anger but in hope that one day America would realise that great promise.
For the last couple days though, I've heard criticism of the stage setting at Mile High Stadium as being a temple to Barack Obama's ego. Today, when I finally got in front of a tv and saw the stage, I knew immediately both emotionally and intellectually, that I was looking at an evocation of the Lincoln Memorial.
Anger boiled up in me. Are the Republican and conservative pundits who have been having a field day with their "Barackopolis" comments so beyond redemption that they intentionally ignored the obvious evocation of the Memorial, just so they could score a few points on a day, when we should put such things aside? Or, are they so ignorant of American history, that they didn't recognize the symbol, and that the columns of the Lincoln Memorial framed Martin Luther King Jr. when he gave his speech that defined and replenished the soul of our country?
And what of the press? I can't listen to everything (although my wife thinks I try) but I didn't hear anyone even suggest that those columns were meant to evoke the stone and marble monument to our greatest president.
Shame on them. Shame on the hateful who will sully anything, no matter how sacred, to further thier political ends. Shame on the ignorant who could not make the connection between the 45th anniversary of one of the greatest moments in American history, and the evocation of that moment. And Shame on the press for being so timid that they helped to perpetuate such a foul lie, rather than confronting it, or who are so craven that they eagerly repeated the lie because it "heatd things up" and kept people watching. Shame on them all. I am sorry for all of them, and am fearful for my country that the sacrifices made by both Lincoln and King for the sake of our nation, mean so little to them.