Dreams and Reality

From a New York Times web article about the content and format of the Democratic convention:

People familiar with the convention planning say those references will be front and center, beginning with the opening speech by Mrs. Obama, in an effort to capitalize on what one strategist called Mr. Obama’s “prototypical nuclear family.”

“Opening up, it says, ‘We will be your first family, and this is what we represent,’ ” said Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland and the co-chairman of Mr. Obama’s campaign in that state. “Basically what she is doing is saying: ‘We are the American story. Americans say get an education, give every single thing you do your best — we’ve done that, and now we’re ready to be a part of fulfilling Martin Luther King’s dream.’ ”

Campaign aides and outside advisers, however, have grappled with how far convention speakers, including the candidate himself, should go in explicitly addressing race and the historic nature of his candidacy, particularly as Mr. Obama accepts the nomination on the 45th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech.

I flinched when I read the end of that second paragraph, and based on the third, I wasn't the only one. I don't think they should wave that flag.

Obama is not racially threatening to most white people because his race isn't a prominent part of who he is. His intelligence, his vision, even his style of clothing speak more loudly than his genetic background. I'm sure that there are those who would prefer it be as upfront and center as his diction. I'm not one of them.