What Dream?

Judge not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character.
As Barack Obama is coronated this afternoon, America, the people hope, will move in a new direction. They believe that change is coming.
What they don't need to think about is race. The media is to blame, really.
During the primaries, the U.S. saw a man who was different: Intelligent, eloquent, vibrant and compassionate; a man who said all the right things and made the United States believe better tomorrows lay a pasture away.
During the election debates, the U.S. saw a man who was different: calm, collective, fresh, while the candidate opposite him was irascible, discombobulated, and stale.
What the U.S. didn't see was his skin color.
They voted for the man who, in their minds, would be a better leader.
For a moment, the words, the sentences, the message Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered on August 28, 1963 rang true just like the freedom and equality to which he alluded.
On election night, and ever since, that has changed.
People everywhere continue to talk about how much it means to have a black man finally elected president. His portrait, not what created it, has made Obama into a patron.
The media controls the message and it has tossed Dr. King's aside to be ignored or forgotten like yesterday's news.
If everyone is meant to live harmoniously and build relationships by the qualities others possess within them, why is there such a distinction between black and white with Obama?
Society hasn't learned that some things are better left unsaid.
We, as a people, have a hard time letting go and moving on.
Voraciously ingest the moment, admire this historical achievement, but also understand that Obama has been elected to raise the United States up from turmoil and decline, hardship and recession.
Whether he will ultimately succeed or falter -- a stark contrast we may not see if too worried about black versus white and whether criticizing Obama's policies is seen as racist -- will be determined over the next four years.
Even if Obama can change the U.S. for the better, it would be unwise to believe the same about people and their copious thirst for color.