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Long before Denver, the drum roll of history began: If Barack
Obama could capture the Democratic nomination for president, he
would deliver the biggest speech of his life exactly 45 years after
Martin Luther King Jr.'s immortal "I Have a Dream" address.

And so Obama accepted the nomination Thursday night standing on
the shoulders of King and thousands of others who suffered and bled
to give blacks the right to vote - yet Obama did not speak King's
name.

In only briefly paying homage to "a young preacher from
Georgia," Obama illustrated how much America has changed in those
45 years, and how much it has stayed the same. Yes, Obama could
actually become the first black president of the United States -
but he must somehow become raceless to do it.

Many older blacks who heard the historic speeches of both King
and Obama are happy to pay that price.

"I think Dr. King would have been proud to have witnessed
tonight's events," said Joseph McNeil, one of the four black
students who started the 1960 desegregation sit-in at the
Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C.

"No place in my mind, or I'm sure his, would we have imagined
seeing so many people of all type of backgrounds rallying behind
someone like us who had been denied full participation for so
long," said McNeil, who retired as a major general in the Air
Force Reserves and lives in Hempstead, N.Y.

"The walls that (King and Obama) are trying to tear down are
much different," said Calvin Smyre, a 34-year veteran of the
Georgia statehouse. "King was trying to tear down the walls of
injustice. Obama is trying to build walls of opportunity."

Yet others, while staunchly backing Obama's candidacy, remain
alarmed by his avoidance of all things racial as he seeks to
mollify the white voters needed for victory.

"It looks like he's running from history," Dr. Cornel West, a
professor of African-American studies and religion at Princeton
University, said after the speech. "He couldn't mention Martin, he
couldn't mention the civil rights movement, he couldn't mention
those who sacrificed and gave so much. It's very, very difficult to
actually create a new world if you don't acknowledge the world from
which you are emerging."

Talk show host Tavis Smiley said that the deeper significance of
King's "Dream" speech and life's work, which included aggressive
demands to end poverty, inequality and the Vietnam War, had been
pulled out of context.

"If we were being true to King's dream, we'd be talking about
poverty, how to eradicate it, and the long list of things that
mattered to him," Smiley said. "I just fear that his legacy will
get glossed over."

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said that King's most famous speech was
being "reduced to a sound bite."

"For most Americans, August 28, 1963, was the dream speech day,
and for them it's like a happy day," Jackson said. "That is a
one-dimensional view of the risk and terror of that day."

Terror, indeed. The 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and
Freedom took place as Southern states fought violently to keep
blacks as second-class citizens. Nonviolent protesters were being
beaten, jailed and killed. Images of vicious police dogs and
pummeling fire hoses helped galvanize world opinion in favor of the
movement as the FBI waged an active campaign against King and other
civil rights leaders.

Before the march, the National Guard was mobilized, paratroopers
were put on alert and the Washington Senators postponed their
baseball games for fear of riots. Yet calm prevailed among the
250,000 people who showed up to hear King and others speak.

Behind closed doors, there were bitter arguments as the speakers
debated the balance of hope and anger that Negroes should show the
world. But King kept his speech to himself until he stepped to the
podium in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial to close out the day's
remarks.

He started by proclaiming the march to be "the greatest
demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation." America,
King said, "has given the Negro people a bad check, a check that
has come back marked 'insufficient funds.' But we refuse to believe
that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that
there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of
this nation."

King's message became urgent as he demanded immediate action,
repeating that "now is the time" for real democracy, justice and
equality. As he neared the end of his speech, King veered from his
prepared text, began to improvise - and his dream took flight.

Forty-five years later, another black man seized the attention
of the nation. After two of King's children addressed the audience,
Obama took the Denver stage protected by federal agents, not
targeted by them. He spun a vision of America's promise, not a bad
promissory note. And he used King's words, almost certainly
deliberately, to proclaim repeatedly that "now is the time" for
better access to education, energy independence, health care and
equal pay.

Obama "offered a bridge to a new tomorrow," said Robert W.
Bogle, CEO of the Philadelphia Tribune, an African-American
newspaper in Philadelphia. "I feel that he truly does offer hope
for this nation for all Americans. Not some Americans. All
Americans."

In the early days of his candidacy, Obama frequently credited
King and the civil rights movement for making his ascent possible.
Now, to reach the summit, he must render them all but invisible.

Forty-five years later, Obama did not utter the words "black"
or "African-American." He said "McCain" 21 times, according to
the transcript released beforehand. He said "American" 25 times
and "promise" 32 times as he sought to create a new definition
of, and a new path to, that immortal dream.

Gallery

More than 84,000 attend Obama speech

Obama tells huge Dem crowd he'll fix Washington

Al Gore accuses McCain of policies too close to Bush

What Obama's candidacy means to the movement

Long before Denver, the drum roll of history began: If Barack
Obama could capture the Democratic nomination, he
would deliver the biggest speech of his life exactly 45 years after
Martin Luther King Jr.'s immortal "I Have a Dream" address.

Obama avoids race on King's 'Dream' anniversary

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