Fifty years after Martin Luther King’s speech, Obama’s gradual approach to political change still needs King’s visionary dream to play against

Last week saw the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech, which was marked at an event by President Barack Obama. Rune Kier writes that while King’s speech was one which articulated abrupt and revolutionary change to achieve equality against an apparently stagnant establishment, Obama’s rhetoric is that of gradual, hard won, political change. Despite these differences, King’s speech is still the vision that Obama is striving for.