A stirring lineup of speakers and 100,000 Americans are currently at the National Mall celebrating and continuing the March On Washington that took place 50 years ago, a gathering of 200,000 people that used the very American power of peaceful demonstration and heard the historic “I Have a Dream” speech by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Three Presidents will be speaking today, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Pres. Obama is scheduled to speak around 3:00 pm EDT and is expected to give a very substantive speech.
You can watch the live feed below:
“While Obama can in no way be held completely responsible for these disparities, the promises he hoped to fulfill during his presidency and its juxtaposition to King’s dream place him between a rock and a hard place.” – Commentary on Obama’s “limited success” from A Black Voices Editorial.
And that Rock is a Senate Minority that has done its best to block the very legislation that would have addressed the concerns in this article. And that Hard Place is a House Majority put into place by the failure of the Obama Wave of 2008 to materialize in 2010 that has sought not only to stop anything he proposes but to actually keep his proposals from even being discussed AND to reverse everything he did in the first two years of his Presidency.
The GOP’s effort from the start has been to delegitimatize Obama’s presidecy, to convert it into an unimportant footnote in history, to label it a fraud…..and THAT has been the battle that he has engaged with real success from the first day of his first term.
Murph, even looking back to the Repub’s impeaching and demonizing of Bill Clinton, there is a constant mentality that they do not believe in democracy, that any election of a Democrat as President needs to be undone through their staging a virtual coup.
Only Republicans can legitimately hold power. Remember all the urgings by Repubs to Dems when Bush was President that as much as you may dislike him and his policies, he is all America’s President and you need to respect the office?
Many of those same people are Birthers today.
So what a hatred cocktail, the Repubs racism and their fascist, anti-democratic mindset that anyone but them is illegitimate if elected.
Obama used the short window of time he had with a Dem supermajority to accomplish a number of things but primarily the passage of the ACA. He will be remembered throughout history for that but the many other things he could have accomplished have indeed been derailed by this anarchist Republican House.
Pres. Obama isn’t done though and if the Repubs continue on their racist, anti-American path, if they default on raising the debt ceiling, if they hold more pointless votes on repealing the ACA instead of helping Americans with pressing problems, even with the gerrymandering favoring them, they might lose The House and big things could be accomplished in his last two years.
Good thinking.
I recall how much talk there was among Dems in 2006 when the Dems took the house- hearings, investigations, impeachment….they were all there- at the edge of the party. Pelosi and Reid squelched it. Not proper. Not the way the game is played
But that is the way the GOP plays the game.
And the ACA he passed was a GOP model (Heritage, RomneyCare) with a lot of tweaking for the GOP (all of which they ignored in their votes).
The GOP is certainly placing itself in a corner defined by its own rhetoric…look at how they covered today’s events. Pitiful.
As you know, I regard a Dem House as the longest of long shots- we blew that in 2010. But we have to get ready for 2020 and that means winning back state government.
Murph, I still wonder if the reason Pelosi and Reid swore not to go after Bush was influenced by Congressional Dems being in the know about torture going on and they would be guilty as well.
Maybe it was a political calculation that they would look better in 2008 for not making the previous term all about impeaching Bush and giving Repubs more public sympathy.
In any case, this ongoing lack of criminal prosecutions that put wealthy and powerful criminals in jail, whether politicians or bankers, is very bad for the nation and fuels distrust of government.
Indeed, the Heritage/GOP plan, especially the key aspect of the individual mandate, is at the heart of the ACA and comes from them of course. The spectacle of them lying and bullshitting to twist out of supporting their own plan, just because a black Dem President supports it makes them look so racist and petty. Wen the census and gerrymandering changes afte 2020, I expect huge and long term losses for Repubs after burning this image of the GOP in the public’s head.
Yep, I agree, the odds are not good for Dems to take over The House but it is possible, especially if the Baggers force a budget or debt ceiling disaster. I am pretty confident Obama has learned the error of his ways in allowing the Repubs to use blackmail and terrorist threats, to blow up our economy, in order to force him to agree to cruel and hateful cuts to vital programs.
So if he holds fast, The Repubs either cause an economic disaster and likely lose The House in 2014 or they back down and look like petty cowards, also not a good image for them in 2014.
As long as Obama refuses to bargain with them as they hold a gun to the heads of all Americans, I think they go into 2014 looking very bad, if not evil.
Your take on Reid and Pelosi and the Dems rings true to me but I still think they could have made a case around lies to Congress and the American people re. our entry into Iraq, war profiteering, the sinking economy…
I too find the failure to hold political and financial leaders accountable distressing and wonder what the underlying motivations for this are.
Part of me accepts the complicity of both parties in acts detestable and unaddressed in the public sphere.
Still…..
I repeated argue with HP righties re. ACA and a couple of simple links stops them dead. It is SOOOOO obvious and when confronted with the facts their arguments wither, but that crowd is not much into fact finding and fact sharing keeping their crowds in unhappy ignorance.
Obama has set a tone- tough, resolute, certain, and unwilling to bend to crap…on the budget, on the sequester, on the debt ceiling….and the GOP seems to be stuck in a groove from which they cannot extricate themselves.
2020 is only great if there are enough state legislatures in our hands and that is something the GOP has proven very good at getting- money really, really talks and walks in local elections.
Murph – It could be that the Bush Admin threatened to drag them down anyway if they pursued any prosecutions or at least, they feared that so they gave them a free pass on violating the Constitution.
I agree, it’s hard to imagine complete innocence of either party in long term, big programs like the torture and rendition program.
I get the feeling that some of the RWs you deal with over there on the ACA are intentionally trying to spread phony propaganda then once you blow their game they split. I’m sure some of them are dittoheads that just spew the latest propaganda from Fox or Rush but some sure seem to disappear too fast when their lies are exposed.
I think we’ll see a lot of Repub Govs and legislatures becoming Dem by 2020. FL, MI, ME and several more should turn blue and with them, the gerrymandering of Repubs will be undone. It is a gradual path but from what we’re seeing so far of the GOP, the Dems should become stronger with each subsequent election.
Ha Murph. As hard as the GOPTP tries to make president Obama a footnote in history, they will never succeed, because president Obama will always have his place as America’s first black president. That is a huge distinction.
I know what you meant, and I agree, but president Obama will never be just a footnote in American history. Neither will the first woman president.
There hope is to show that he was never president…..not a citizen….OR that he won through cheating…..acorn…OR that he ruled as a dictator….ObamaCare…
It is all ridiculous but they are grasping for straws and gasping for air.
The first woman president- woooo hoooo- Hillary!
What is disgraceful is how Republicans declined to be a part of this event. GHW Bush claims he is too ill to attend, possibly so but George Bush declined saying he needed to be with his dad. Really? Today he had to be there and couldn’t recognize MLK and black Americans, especially after Katrina?
Maybe that’s the reason. Still, no Republicans attending is an insult to all Americans who believe in justice and equality.
W’s Statement:
STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSHv-v
Laura and I are proud to join our fellow Americans in commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech.
When Reverend King came to Washington, D.C., in the summer of 1963, his purpose was to hold our Nation to the standards spelled out in the Declaration of Independence. He called all of us to live up to that document’s fundamental promise and the underpinning of our founding – that all of us are created equal and endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, with thousands gathered around him, Dr. King looked out over the American capital and uttered simple, powerful words that changed the hearts of millions. The dream he had spread a message of hope, justice, and brotherhood that took hold in the hearts of men and women around the world.
Our country has come a long way since that bright afternoon 50 years ago; yet our journey to justice is not complete. Just to the East of the Lincoln Memorial, where President Obama will speak on Wednesday, stands the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. There on the National Mall our President, whose story reflects the promise of America, will help us honor the man who inspired millions to redeem that promise.
Dr. King was on this Earth just 39 years, but the ideals that guided his life of conscience and purpose are eternal. Honoring him requires the commitment of every one of us. There’s still a need for every American to help hasten the day when Dr. King’s vision is made real in every community – when what truly matters is not the color of a person’s skin, but the content of their character.
Laura and I thank the King family and all who work to carry on the legacy of a great man and the promise of a great Nation. May we continue to march toward the day when the dignity and humanity of every person is respected. And may God continue to bless America.
NOW IF THE GOP ONLY ACTED ON THIS…AND WHY COULDN’T W GET JEB TO REPRESENT HIM….WHY DID THE GOP LEADERSHIP NOT ASK TO BE A PART…OBVIOUS. W’S STATEMENT DOES NOT REPRESENT THE GOP.
Blah blah blah from the President who presided over some of the worst treatment of black Americans in recent memory. His classist economy kept black people down while shoveling money into the pockets of the wealthy and don’t get me started on Katrina. And the Bush legacy is the economic crash that hit black people harder than whites.
What did Bush do as President for black Americans? He was in a powerful position to do a lot and did nothing but watch them struggle for their lives in New Orleans.
I think that any Repub who appeared at this event would have been attacked by the Bagger core of the GOP simply because they are unashamed racists. No Republican can support anything that helps black Americans without being attacked by these jackals, all they can do is blather about how Repubs freed the slaves 130 years ago so vote for them now…that is, if their recent Voter ID laws allow any of them to vote.
It’s funny (sort of)that the biggest problem Bush had with his detractors was the accusation that he was racist. He reacted very strongly to such claims.
I think he is the perfect example of someone so clueless about themselves, that he just could not see that he had no real concern for African Americans.
To his credit, he did do a good thing as far as getting more medical aid to HIV sufferers in Africa. Probably the ONLY good thing he did. But you know, those weren’t Americans. To him, I’m sure that he wouldn’t show the same compassion to black Americans.
I agree KT; clueless wouldn’t have been so bad had he not been surrounded by evil. I think he was naive and uninvolved with the real America.
FC, that’s exactly what the GOP wants in a president. They want someone who is easily controlled. That’s why Romney won the nomination, because he is basically not all that smart, and would have been very malleable.
Cheney is really the guy who ran the bush administration. Cheney and Rove…et al.
KT, I think his flyover of New Orleans, after he was being criticized for neglecting the black people suffering, was the perfect analogy for him.
He was raised to believe that only his peers mattered so rushing to give them tax cuts and subsidies was important but helping those lesser people who were alien to him, not so much of an emergency.
I do think the effort on HIV in Africa was great but it clearly was not a from-the-heart thing. Someone contrived that as a legacy thing or something because there is nothing in Bush’s past that would support this being an issue he genuinely cared about.
Still, a good deed done for a bad reason still is a good deed and helped many Africans.
Too bad that Bush didn’t lift a finger to help African Americans and only made their lives worse. But then, it probably didn’t look as good to his political handlers as a legacy thing.
Ad, I never heard the term ,”handlers,” in regards to any president before Bush. I think the term speaks volumes as to how the RNC viewed Bush. Louis Black does a very funny bit about Bush and his handlers.
Do you remember when Bush was trying to exit a press conference and tried to open a locked door? Then he tried to open the other side? Almost immediately after failing the second time, he backed off and stood at attention, just waiting for his “handlers,” to tell him what to do next.
I think that was a very telling insight into his presidency and the real people who were pulling the strings, behind the scenes.
Bush’s handlers included his “mommy” Karen Hughes. I think I remember that was one of his nicknames for her – but I could be wrong. Have to google it later. But of all his handlers, she was one of the top ones. Just giving due where it is deserved……
KT – There is something to be said about handlers and Repub Presidents. It seems pretty clear that Reagan had Alzheimer’s while in his last term as President and his handlers basically ran him and the Presidency.
Bush was an idiot and all of the contrary BS is just that. The situation you describe and so many others (My Pet Goat, “Fool me once…won’t be fooled again!”) illustrate the mentality of a mental midget…which was the perfect candidate for a Cheney & Co. to use. Bush finally discovered at the end of his Presidency that he had been Cheney’s puppet and turned on him.
Speaking of political handlers, I am looking forward to watching the full movie, Game Change. I have seen excerpts, but I really do want to view the entire film.
Julianne Moore did a fantastic portrayal of Palin. It’s on my Nextflix queue.
Bush was a puppet governor in Tx and he was a puppet president. The same cadre/cabal that ran him in Austin, ran him in DC.
I think of so many southern politicians from my own young life who used to wonder what all this talk of discrimination was about; who used to wonder why black leadership complained when they knew of no black person who was complaining.
Game Change is an extraordinary indictment of the entire GOP. I bought the film.
KT – Agree with Murph, Game Change was very well done and could also be classified as a horror film! What could have happened…with McCain as Pres and Palin as VP…scarier than ghost movies!
And Dubya’s excuse that he was recovering from cardiac stent placement and therefore “couldn’t” attend is pretty lame. Millions of Americans have had that procedure done and gone back to work a week later. For a tough-guy, fighter pilot, Mission Accomplished wannabe, he’s actually kinda wussy.
And I would imagine whatshername wrote his statement for him. I can’t see him taking time away from painting bathtub self-portraits to put any thought into this topic, which never seemed to hold much interest for him in the first place.
Kes – Clearly a phony excuse and that fool can’t write the text in that statement, it’s not in his voice and was without doubt someone else’s work. That’s pretty lame too.
No doubt he is playing in the bathtub with his crayons instead, working on what Mama Bush calls, “Another masterpiece, Georgie!”
I’m sure that’s the real story, AdLib.
Yes, Babs probably has Georgie’s masterpieces all over the house– especially in the bathroom. The same Babs who taught him everything he knows about sensitivity to race in America when she commented that Katrina was “actually working out very well for some of them“.
As I used to say, the best revenge on B Bush is aging well. My goodness, didn’t she look like H.W.’s mama rather than wifey back then??? and as for her precious darling children: Neil taught people that you can get away with stealing (Silverado) and Jeb & George stole the 2000 election. Nice set of family values there, Babs! Not to mention that she likely awards whatever li’l Georgie has done in the bathroom with the words: “Another masterpiece, Georgie!”
In all honesty, before we deceive ourselves too greatly into thinking that he was just an idiot (which he is, BTW) – remember, he took his dad’s retreads and that’s how he got so many of those guys – Cheney, Rummy et al. Talk about Zombieland…..one of them didn’t even have a heart yet stilled walked the earth.
He got a stint…on August 6. His people said he was having an easy recovery. Typically recovery from this is three days.
I had the procedure and was back at work in that time period.
Yeah….it was an excuse. Shameful.
Now will the media pick up on this?
I’d bet the MSM ignores it, not much interest from Repubs or Dems in hearing about Bush and he is kind of irrelevant nowadays anyway, as his non-appearance at two RNCs and this 50th Anniversary of The March on Washington prove.
We’ve got so many reasons to see Bush as a lousy President and human being, one more couldn’t make any difference.
BTW, glad your procedure went so smoothly!
AlphaBitch, ran out of reply room on your last so replying up here:
Babs Bush has been described as the real mastermind behind the family. Maybe it’s off base, maybe not but she sure has shown how tough, nasty and controlling she can be.
Of course, there is no principle in the Bush clan against stealing because when you’re in the 1%, you’re entitled to what you want so you’re not stealing when you take things that don’t belong to you, just helping reality match what you know is the way things should be.
Daddy Bush’s cronies sure did hijack George Bush’s Presidency for themselves. I mean, when the Daddy Bush guy you bring on to find you a VP comes back after his search and says he’s the best choice to be VP, that says it all.
I just KNEW that posting the hollow man’s statement would get a reaction and it did, it did!
Your analysis of Bush in re.
Whenever someone brings up the lack of economic progress for blacks and hispanics under Obama I point out that it was the Bush economy that crashed and crushed those two groups and that it is a miracle that Obama has been able to do anything for them since the GOP has set out to sabotage every effort.
What did personal appearances with Obama do for Charlie Christ. Imagine what appearing with Obama and all of those, you know…..takers who are, you know…not real Americans.
I’m sure Bush believes he wrote that letter, I mean, he paid for it so isn’t it his?
Yep, a photo standing anywhere in the general vicinity of Obama is a political death warrant for a Repub.
And how can a party so narrow minded and purist in their prejudices ever win a national election again?
Bush has to be a master of self deception after all of these years of doing nothing but getting credit (or discredit) for so much.
Rance Priebus gave an address earlier this week in which he said the GOP has to claim its illustrious role in the civil rights struggle- really?!
They renounced that heritage when the party embraced Nixon’s southern strategy and it has been down hill ever since.
My stint surgery was five years ago and as it turned out it was a misdiagnosis. I have a blood disorder and that was not the fix for it.
As to the media- yes, Bush is not hot….but how about Boehner and Cantor
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/319239-boehner-cantor-declined-invitation-to-speak-at-march-on-washington-anniversary
The House’s two most senior Republicans, Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.), turned down invitations to speak at the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.
They each of reasonably good excuses but their absence because of scheduling issues makes a statement does it not.
Murph – Bush has the confidence of his ignorance. I think one reason he’s been such a recluse after he left the Presidency is that after everything he did to destroy the nation’s economy, its military and its standing in the world, he just can’t quite figure out how to translate it into what a great President he was. He KNOWS he was a great President but all of these annoying realities just won’t cooperate.
No surprise that Rancid Proboscis, he of the phony “We need to change to appeal to minorities” plea after they got trounced in 2012, now claims that the problem the GOP has attracting minorities is that they haven’t talked enough about how the GOP used to care about them as Americans decades and a century ago.
Yep, I’m sure that all the African Americans who they are preventing from voting today and who are demonized daily by Republicans as lazy, scamming, unAmerican takers will happily vote Republican because of what’s in history books. Genius!
Yep, between LBJ’s passing of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act and Nixon’s Southern Strategy, the parties switched memberships, with the moderate Repubs who supported civil rights going over to the Dems and the racists in the ex-Confederacy states going over to the Repubs. So as we know, there is no connection between Repubs today and those who supported civil rights and emancipation.
In fact, Repubs celebrate the Confederacy and the Confederate flag! Yet they claim they’re the party of Lincoln? They are one party Lincoln wouldn’t even bother RSVPing to.
That’s messed up, having that procedure unnecessarily. And of course, it sidetracked getting the real issue detected and addressed. Glad you’re okay now.
I guess the MSM doesn’t want to spend the popular capital on going after George even though he’s full of crap about this procedure STILL restricting him from attending after 2-3 weeks.
But Boehner and Cantor look like the cowards they are and their excuses are lame. Rancid Proboscis actually staged a “separate but equal” event commemorating the March on Washington…with such civil rights leaders as Allen West speaking.
This is why I say, the GOP is in a death spiral, they are afraid to offend their racist base by showing any respect to minorities (and civil rights for that matter) so as the amount of minority voters grow and white voters decline, the GOP will decline along with their racist base into permanent minority status…especially after 2020 if Dems successfully retake control of most states they’ve gerrymandered.
AdLib, is it gerrymandering districts or is it pure embarrassment at being booed? I’m glad you called my attention to it. It’s hard to believe that they could divide so firmly along this line after all they’ve already been through.
Foodchain, I think Bush or any other Repub would know that they would never be booed at this celebration of MLK and equality, that would be so ugly and in fact, could only make Bush look good and Dems and blacks look bad.
IMO, this was all about not angering the Baggers who are unquestionably racist and bent on trying to further oppress black people.
It just makes me proud, that despite the hatred we experience, that we can also experience this. Thank God for this little light.
Foodchain, great to see you!
Agreed, every American should be watching this right now. It is so valuable to be reminded of the nobility and sense of justice of our people and this history.
With all the Bagger hatred and small mindedness proliferating everywhere, having national unity on our shared humanity is such a moral salve.
salve is a good word–soothing and protective.
Hey FC, long time no see! I think any steps toward enlightenment, no matter how small or how large, are a tremendous thing. Any one step forward, without two steps backward, is a great thing.
Thanks for this Adlib. I am working in my craft room today so I can listen online no problem. Great idea.
Hey Sue, very glad to hear that!
OK I don’t know how the folks that are holding the umbrella can keep from dancing. MSNBC keeps talking over the speakers, I am glad you put up this live stream!
Patsy, I was thinking the same thing, all these inspirational speeches going on yet the pudnuts on MSNBC blather their uninspiring punditry over it.
Really MSNBC, you think we want to hear Chris Matthews ranting instead. At least they stopped doing that as Obama’s time to speak approached.
Watching the live coverage of the 50th Anniversary of The March on Washington and Martin Luther King’s, “I Have a Dream” speech. Angus King, Gov of ME, just gave a pretty remarkable speech, had no idea he was engaged in the original march and was so eloquent!
It’s hot as hades here today so all the farm work is done for the day. I am over at friends where six of us have been watching the coverage of the day.
I told them about the Planet and will comment from here….I said they were welcome to toss in their thoughts. So much of what I write will from my coop.
PS Angus KIng is the Independent Senator from Maine, Paul LePage, a racist, is the governor.
Whoops, thanks for the correction Murph, Angus King is indeed the Senator and as you say, LePage, who this last week claimed Obama hates white people, is the racist bagger who’s Governor.
Looking forward to any comments that come from the coop!
LePage is a minority governor who hates minorities.