OMG: I think it is awesome that Joseph Lowery is givng the Benediction.

[Perky]

What a wonderful moment of closure and gratitude for the work of a Civil Rights Saint.

If Martin was Moses and Barack is Joshua then Lowery is Aaron. What a trenedouse acknoweldgement this is to the the Civil Rights Hero. What an imcredible moment to pass the Baton to someone who so aptly fulfilled THe Dream! Judged not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character.

What a gracious way for Obama to acknowledge what he said in in Selma.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2007/03/obamas_selma_speech_text_as_de.html

"We're in the presence today of giants whose shoulders we stand on, people who battled, not just on behalf of African Americans but on behalf of all of America; that battled for America’s soul, that shed blood , that endured taunts and formant and in some cases gave -- torment and in some cases gave the full measure of their devotion.

Like Moses, they challenged Pharaoh, the princes, powers who said that some are atop and others are at the bottom, and that's how it's always going to be.

There were people like Anna Cooper and Marie Foster and Jimmy Lee Jackson and Maurice Olette, C.T. Vivian, Reverend Lowery, John Lewis, who said we can imagine something different and we know there is something out there for us, too.

Thank God, He's made us in His image and we reject the notion that we will for the rest of our lives be confined to a station of inferiority, that we can't aspire to the highest of heights, that our talents can't be expressed to their fullest. And so because of what they endured, because of what they marched; they led a people out of bondage.

They took them across the sea that folks thought could not be parted. They wandered through a desert but always knowing that God was with them and that, if they maintained that trust in God, that they would be all right. And it's because they marched that the next generation hasn't been bloodied so much.

It's because they marched that we elected councilmen, congressmen. It is because they marched that we have Artur Davis and Keith Ellison. It is because they marched that I got the kind of education I got, a law degree, a seat in the Illinois senate and ultimately in the United States senate.

It is because they marched that i stand before you here today. ...something happened back here in Selma, Alabama. Something happened in Birmingham that sent out what Bobby Kennedy called, “Ripples of hope all around the world.” ...What happened in Selma, Alabama and Birmingham also stirred the conscience of the nation. ... because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. ... I’m here because somebody marched. I’m here because you all sacrificed for me. I stand on the shoulders of giants.

[applegrove]

1. Think of the black history that is being made this week. Think of all the kids

who will read about Obama, the giants whose sholders he is standing on and the next 100 days.

[Perky]

2. Just the next 100 days?

I am thinking the next 8 yeara

[applegrove]

3. Of course the next 8 Years. But I expect the next 100 days to be absolutely outstanding

days. Then Obama will have to pace his greatness.