It Was Written.

words.
 
"I couldn’t watch Obama’s speech without thinking of the aircraft carriers that were moving because he ordered them to, the diplomats he had mobilized around the globe to line up international support, the intelligence analysts he was grilling and re-grilling in an attempt to avoid the kind of mistake his predecessor made in Iraq.

And that is why Wednesday’s event, though designed to be similar in form, was nothing like the march in 1963. The featured speaker, in both cases, was an African American known for his powerful eloquence. But King was an activist, preacher and prophet who appealed to the nation’s moral conscience. Obama is something quite different — the most powerful man in the world. We have had nearly five years to get used to the fact that a black man is president of the United States. Some, I suspect, will never accept this reality; most already have, and judge Obama the way King wanted us all to be judged — by the content of his character.

 ...In Syria, Obama has made clear that he is contemplating a punitive strike — not an intervention to produce regime change.

As I have written, I don’t believe the use of chemical weapons can go unpunished. But I acknowledge having no idea what might happen next. Obama, as he stood Wednesday in Lincoln’s shadow, had no way of knowing, either.

It is an African American who bears this weight on his shoulders. That is the amazing context created by the many unheralded activists and agitators who have struggled for 50 years, and still struggle today, to make King’s glorious dream come true."

THE WASHINGTON POST: Obama’s speech remarkable for its context