WASHINGTON — He was grateful but unsentimental. He praised America’s heroism but also its flaws. On a day of celebration, he reminded everybody that we need to get back to work.
In repaying a historic debt Wednesday, President Obama delivered a reverent yet tough-minded address as he detailed “unfinished business” of the 1963 March on Washington.
Exactly 50 years after that historic day, the first black President stood at the Lincoln Memorial and heralded the progress made, even chiding current commentators for accentuating the negative and not appreciating the great impact on the nation — and on him.
Because civil rights protesters kept marching in the 1960s, he said, “America changed.”
Civil rights and voting rights laws were passed. Educational opportunities opened “so their daughters and sons could finally imagine a life for themselves beyond washing somebody else’s laundry.”
“And, yes, eventually the White House changed.”
That was the one, understated reference to his own place in history.
While praising the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other key leaders, Obama heralded the “unsung heroes.” He cited the seamstresses, steelworkers, students, teachers, maids, Pullman porters and others who showed up on that steamy day 50 years ago — and whose determination ultimately prevailed.
At the same time, there was tough love as Obama underscored the huge disparities in wealth, health care and safety that remain across America.
“The position of all working Americans, regardless of color, has eroded,” Obama said shortly after King’s family rang a “bell of freedom” at 3 p.m., the same moment King had finished his “I Have a Dream” speech 50 years earlier.
A somber Obama then cited the nation’s self-inflicted wounds as he maintained that “legitimate grievances against police brutality tipped into excuse-making for criminal behavior.” Similarly, racial politics can drown out the need for unity.
In a frequent drizzle and after a big weekend rally, the commemoration lacked the size and drama of 1963.
Wednesday was very structured and had nothing like the unscripted elements of King’s fabled speech. But it offered more diverse speakers than the male-dominated 1963 rally, notably women, including Oprah Winfrey and the daughters of former Presidents Lyndon Johnson and John F. Kennedy.
The crowd heard Obama, former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and John Lewis, the civil rights hero and Georgia congressman who is the only surviving speaker from 1963.
But it was Obama’s day and his address reflected his own complex relationship to the civil rights movement. While fully aware of what he owes the likes of Lewis, he is wary of calling himself a black leader or black President.
And one couldn’t miss the striking similarities between issues central to the 1963 conclave and those still debated today, from voting rights to police harassment.
