Leaders and Their Followers

Today we experience a new America as Barack Obama is now President-elect of the United States. Watching Charlie Rose and his guests talk about the election, I was struck by the statement of Bernard Henri-Levy (philosopher, activist, journalist, filmmaker, author of "Who Killed Daniel Pearl") as he joined in with the discussion of the pundits, historians, and friends of Obama. He said that the uniqueness of Obama is that he stands on the shoulders of Martin Luther King, who stood on the shoulders of John F. Kennedy. The panel also discussed the historical significance that the 44th president will be an African American, but that this African American is the one who will assume this mantel of responsibility. How appropriate that his acceptance speach was in the footsteps of MLK -shown by Photographer Ted Williams, in his 1966 Chicago Rally.