MLK jr., obama, and palin

Debra Dean Murphy has a nice little article 'The King's Speech: MLK and Tuscon.' On Martin Luther King Jr. Day she was speaking to the role public speakers play in our society. She gave a nice description of what made MLK so great, and then contrasted the speeches President Obama and Sarah Palin gave after the recent incident in Tuscon, Arizona. I think she nailed it.

She believes the President struck the right note with his speech to the nation, and that Palin simply missed the mark in her brief video-taped speech on her Facebook page in which she denounced "journalist and pundits" for manufacturing "a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn." Murphy's reasoning makes sense. As she says...

Palin thinks we want HER - in all her colloquial, contrarian folksiness (later she says, "What you get with Sarah Palin is Sarah Palin). But President Obama, a worthy heir to the rhetorical artistry of MLK, understands that it's not about him. When he spoke to the victims' families, the grieving people of Tuscon, and an edgy American public, he was acting a crucial part: giving voice to the sorrow and pain of others, articulating with eloquence the fears and hopes, regrets and aspirations of an unsettled nation...

I'm sure those of you who know me probably think I hate Sarah Palin. I do not. I just don't think she is anywhere near worthy to be considered a public voice in our country. We don't need a President (or public figure) with a narcissistic reality TV show, we need one willing to put the needs of others above their own. Anyway, the article I linked to says it better, so I suggest you read that.

And while you're at it, Jordon Cooper has a link to a superb article from the NY Times: "The Climate of Hate."

Peace out; and in.