Obama is Not the New Martin Luther King

40 years after Martin Luther King was assassinated, people are still talking about a successor to this 39-year-old black leader. Can Obama be the one?

Conservative commentator Williams (Juan Williams) commented that one thing Martin Luther King did the best was dare to eliminate racial barriers between blacks and whites and tell both groups the same truth.

Although Obama often emphasizes elimination of racial barriers, through the lens of both black and white voters, Obama increasingly represents something else.

Obamas campaign team gained initial support from a group of young whites who like Obama because he never takes advantage of his racial identity of potentially becoming a black leader to attract black voters. Due to this, they think Obama can lead the country into unity.

Black voters did not initially have many expectations of Obama, but later saw him gaining white voter support, and eventually started supporting him. However, with increasingly support from the black community, Obama stated victory in a number of states with large black population and subsequently received criticisms from “inter-ethnic” organizations. The concept of “black identity politics” has become a more undesirable attribute of Obama’s strategy. As a result, he decided to adjust his strategy to “respective interpretations”. After all, his goal is to win more votes, rather than revolutionize like Martin Luther King did.

“Obama presents different stories to different ethnic audiences, rather than directly face the racial problem that exists in the United States. This is different from Martin Luther King”

The latest CNN poll showed that 76 percent of Americans, increased by 14% at the end of 2006, is ready for a black President. But surprisingly enough, amongst them, the white (78 percent) population is larger than the black population (69 percent). This, more or less, seems to suggest that many black people still doubt whether the white population is really willing to elect a black President.

Clarence Jones, former Martin Luther King consultant, was recently interviewed. He talked about his view on Martin Luther King and Obama:

Reporter:

From the content of the speech, Obama did have some common ground with Martin Luther King. What do you think?

Jones:

Obama’s response to Pastor Wright’s (J. Wright) controversial speech, reminded people, in parts, of Martin Luther King, but the end result was to avoid having Wright influence his presidential election. Martin Luther King spoke for equality, not for himself.

Reporter:

What is the impact of Obama’s speech on race to the United States?

Jones:

Obama greatest contribution is the courage he gave to people to admit that there are “racial problems”, which is an issue others avoid. Obama acknowledged the “racial problem” and commented, “I would like to build a new environment for the United States in the 21st century, and there is no room for racism”.

Reporters:

Do you think Obama is the new Martin Luther King?

Jones:

No, he is not. Martin Luther King is unique.