In this CBS interview with radio host Tom Joyner, President Barack Obama, who is known for his eloquency and superior oratory skills, announces in advance that his speech at the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington "...won't be as good as the speech 50 years ago." He is of course referring to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech, which is as moving and relevant today as it was when it was delivered fifty years ago.
President Obama makes some insightful remarks on how far we've come, but how 50 years later, the March continues.
"Obviously, we've made enormous strides. I'm a testament to it," he said last week at Binghamton University in New York. A member of the faculty asked for his thoughts on the civil rights movement, 50 years after "I Have a Dream."
In the president's view, every generation "seems wiser in terms of wanting to treat people fairly and do the right thing and not discriminate."
But every time Mr. Obama mentions the progress inspired by and achieved because of King, he is quick to caution that there is much about The Dream that is yet to be fulfilled.
He said a "legacy of discrimination" still exists. He spoke of "institutional barriers" against minority groups, specifying African-Americans, Latinos and Native Americans.
He also makes the point that the 1963 March was about jobs and justice, and in those sectors, inequality still needs to be addressed.
"When it comes to the economy, when it comes to inequality, when it comes to wealth, when it comes to the challenges that inner cities experience," Mr. Obama said King would say "we have not made as much progress as the civil and social progress that we've made.
He thinks King would feel "it's not enough just to have a black president; it's not enough just to have a black syndicated radio show host."
On the question of whether ordinary Americans can succeed day-to-day, "we have not made as much progress as we need to on that," he says.
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