Bookends
After watching Barack Obama’s victory speech on Tuesday night I could not help but draw similarities between it and MLK’s I Have a Dream speech from 1963. The cadence of Obama’s speech reminded me of King’s, as well as the ever present refrain, “yes we can, Yes we can.” Even the structure was similar, in the fact that just like King, Obama waited until the oration had built up steam to launch into the the repeated phrase. If you remember King did not open with the words which later became the signifier of his speech. And nor did Obama.
For those who witnessed the first speech I can only imagine how emotional hearing the second was. While we still have a fur piece to go, these speeches were obvious bookends to a long and hard-fought struggle.
Watch the two and see for yourself. The experience is quite amazing.
