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MLK's speech, like all great speeches, came in the context of the times. And not just the context of events around it, but in the context of questions being asked. MLK's speech was ripped and shredded by segregationists, it was ridiculed and mocked by bigots throughout the country, north and south. But more people understood it, and were moved by it, and time proved that the speech was more than just words, and was instead the symbolic verbal culmination of a lifetime of work from King, and all of the blood and grief and sorrow of our nation's racial history, from all the Civil Rights heroes from Reconstruction to the present. The context was universal, or at least covered all of American history. That speech could not be delivered today, because the lead-in would not be the same.
Same with all great speeches--The Gettysburg Address, "Give me liberty or give me death," etc. They still resonate, we still understand them. There is a timelessness to them that reflects the human spirit. But taken out of the context of the events, they are just beautiful words. The blood soaking the battlefields of Gettysburg and the hallowed ground of churches in Alabama annointed those speeches, made them holy and sacred.
Obama's speech was powerful, beautiful, painful, and it, too, reflected much about our society, and parts of it will live on for a long time. Like Jesse Jackson's 88 Democratic Convention speech, or Gore's 92 convention speech. But it was also a campaign speech, meant to save his butt, and manipulated to make him the hero, rather than lionizing the sacrifices of others. It was not quite as pure because his intentions were not quite as pure. It was close, but not quite. So pundits tear it apart.
Who knows how it will be remembered? If he wins, this could be the turning point to the next era of history. If he manages to not fail as a president he will go down as a landmark president, not because of his accomplishments, but because of what he had to overcome to win, and what that win said about our changing society. If he loses, it will be just another great campaign speech, forgotten by history. Context will decide the issue.
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