Barack Obama is No Martin Luther King: Let's Figure Out the Difference

President Barack Obama ran one of the most amazing presidential campaigns in the history of the United States. In the midst of that race, the hoopla overflowed as everyone from accountants to drug dealers were trying to make money from the Obama-mania train. T-shirts were being made, bill boards were springing up and the national euphoria has almost never been commercialized at such a shocking level.

The most mind-boggling T-shirt presented during the brilliant run by President Obama was the one that shows Barack Obama and Martin Luther King Jr. together, as if one is an embodiment of the other. I witnessed an even more telling moment of "Over-bama" during the week of President Obama's inauguration ceremony. On the day the president was inaugurated, I spoke at a church where the choir director changed the words of the song, "We shall overcome," and instead used the words, "We HAVE overcome."

Perhaps we really do live in a post-racial America, or so some of us think. But given that Bill Clinton, Harry Reid and Rod Blagojevich have simultaneously referred to Obama as a coffee servant, shoe shine boy and one who does not use "negro dialect," it appears that we've got a long way to go.

I am a fan of Barack Obama, but I have never been a fan of Obama-mania. I also beg to argue that if Martin Luther King Jr. were alive today, he would have been the last person to jump on the Obama-mania bandwagon. Dr. King would have likely applauded Obama's success (he was always a friend to the White House), but King's desire to fight for the poor and disenfranchised would certainly run counter to the job requirements of our president.

Dr. King would not, in any imaginable way, have the audacity to accept a Nobel Peace Prize while simultaneously attempting to justify morally questionable military activity around the world. It was not Obama's decision to give himself the Nobel Prize, but the timing could not have been more awkward. I suspect that Dr. King would not have supported the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

While it is quite clear that Barack Obama is no Martin Luther King, we must also remember that Dr. King is no Barack Obama. Some would agree that most institutions are changed from the inside, and Dr. King's role as an outside agitator, while valuable, would not provide as much room for growth as the role played by President Obama. So, while there is an aesthetic attempt to compare Barack Obama to MLK, the truth is that the president should instead be compared to John F. Kennedy or some other American president who appears to have the moral fortitude to affect meaningful social change. Obama has gone out of his way to make sure that America doesn't perceive him to be a black leader, and this could either be because he really isn't a black leader or that his leadership in the black community is so obvious that he has to tone it down to keep his white support.

While President Obama certainly has a greater capacity and opportunity for change than Dr. King, he is far less liberated to use that capacity for the common good. It's like being given the option of choosing between 50 percent of $100 dollars or 100-percent of $50 dollars. Either way, you get the same amount of cash. While Dr. King was allowed to carry his character on his sleeve, Obama must operate as a stealthy politician: He has to say one thing and do another, lie to his constituents, weigh corporate interests in to his decisions, protect military assets and pander to racist Americans in order to keep their votes. Dr. King's primary constituents were God and his conscience, so he was in a better position to see truth, justice and equity in his day-to-day endeavors.

It is difficult to argue whether Barack Obama is more effective or valuable than Dr. King. The clear point is that he is certainly different from Dr. King. Both men have inspired a nation, both have changed the world and both have put their lives on the line to fight for what they believe in. So while King and Obama are different, there are core realities that also make them the same. That is why both men must be respected.