www.dailydemocrat.com/news/ci_11492417 -
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Published on: 1/19/2009
Last Visited: 1/20/2009
"It's an extremely happy coincidence that these days fall together," said Robert Brem, professor of politics and psychology at the College of Alameda, where a special daylong event called, "From 'I Have a Dream' to 'Yes We Can,' " will be held Tuesday, with viewing screens set up on campus for the inauguration.
"It represents, regardless of what kind of presidency Obama has - after all, he is just a man - that his election really is the punctuation point of King's dream, of his words on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial when he spoke of the Declaration of Independence as being a promissory note
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which had yet to be made," Brem said.
"It's a completion of what I consider to be stage two of the dream - moving into the cosmopolitan era.
What's really interesting about Obama is that he's not only a person of color, but of multiple ethnicities.
The entire world sees him as their president.
Most previous presidents have run on that classic Americana position of 'us and them.' But with Obama, it's just 'us.' His election represents a moment when the American dream itself can be rebooted.
"As to what we do from here remains to be seen," Brem said.