The title should be in quotes, because that's the title MSNBC is using this morning for its coverage.
Without delving into detail, how can anyone quarrel with: a massive (300,000+) rally full of praise for God, country, MLKing, very little politics, a beautiful day, recognition for do-gooders?
I can't, except to say I find it a bit soft and mushy, like an overcooked eggplant. But that's a personal taste.
Broder's column today recalled the anxiety with which white America, particularly white liberals, awaited the 1963 March ("will it be good for Negroes"?). I think the hopeful aspect of yesterday's event is this: 47 years since much of America thought of the civil rights movement as leftist agitators, causing trouble, moving too fast, 30 or so years since people like John McCain and Ronald Reagan opposed an MLK holiday, a leader on the right is striving mightily to wrap himself in King's aura. (It's a point also made in a Post column today.)
To this failed historian, it seems just another step in the process of redefining historical reality, winnowing out unpleasant facts and creating weapons to use in the future, but it's also this process which ultimately creates a shared historical mythology most Americans can be moved by. (And those words are soft and mushy too.)
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