[The Urban Sombrero]

I heard that speech and it bore no faint similarity to that of Barack Obama in Dallas yesterday. And if I might add, the number of times Barack repeated just one word 'and', in his speech yesterday if placed end to end, would eclipse the total text of everything Bobby had to say about the assassination of MLK in the speech you cite above.

But, besides suffering the eerie feeling of deja vu as far as the times are concerned, there is one glaring difference between the two speeches, Bobby, speaking to everybody as equal Americans, blamed no particular race for what happened. Barack on the other hand, once again took plenty of time to sharpen and define for us his perceptions of racial inequality.

But this one paragraph from Robert Kennedy's speech jumped out. "So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King -- yeah, it's true -- but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love -- a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke."
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches...death.html

The difference between Bobby and Barack and how they see the country? A little thing called the common good.

BTW, if anybody would like to see the way the unambiguous communicate, I would encourage you to read through Bobby's speech. Just takes a minute or two.

To suggest that Robert Kennedy did not understand that a white man shot a black man who led a movement to gain black men and women the full recognition and rights of American citizens is a stretch. His speech was intended to attempt a measured response grounded in common humanity and respect for country. Barack Obama, regarded as America's first black President, is in a position to speak a bit differently than Bobby Kennedy, not better or more poignantly, but differently.