Reflecting on King as Obama era begins

Martin Luther King Jr. would have reason to smile today.

Not so much because today is a national celebration of his life. Or because such a remembrance is really an embrace of his ideals.

He'd be smiling knowing that tomorrow signals in many ways the realization of his greatest dream. Or at least a concrete start of it.

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"

It was King's most powerful speech, delivered to a quarter-million people on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on a hot August day in 1963.

Barack Obama's inauguration Tuesday as the 44th president and the first president of color marks a tipping point of sorts for this nation. While we can all feel good about moving the collective consciousness toward racial equality enough since King's time to entrust the leadership of our country to a man of color, we should just as quickly move beyond that euphoria.

There still is much work to do to eradicate racism in our society. You see it in the form of racial profiling. You see it in reader comments on newspaper Web sites. It's alive and well alongside religious discrimination and sexism.

And it's disheartening when race so quickly comes to the fore, as it did with the nomination of Roland Burris to the Senate.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character," King told the throng.

Heeding King's advice and having accomplished one goal, we mustn't dwell upon it. Electing Obama was only a beginning.

Now that the color barrier has been broken for the world's most important job, the greater challenge before us is to judge future leaders solely on their character, ideas and ability to lead.

Obama's character - his "audacity of hope," clearly mirrors the "audacity of faith" that King spoke of upon accepting the Nobel Peace Prize. It's that unflinching devotion to the thought that we can make things better - that we can be a better nation - that has endeared both men to so many.

"With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope," King testified that August day 45 years ago. "With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."

We must look upon Obama not as a black president but our president. And view Martin Luther King Jr. Day not as a black holiday but one celebrated by all.

Obama in countless ways channels the civil rights leader, who was taken from us far too soon. How appropriate that the days in which we celebrate both men come but a day apart.