Barack Obama gives historic speech to an audience of 84,000, at Mile High Stadium, on August 28, 2008 (full speech)

Exactly forty-years ago, less than a month before his assassination, Bobby Kennedy had a premonition of sorts: "There's no doubt about it. In forty-years a Negro could achieve the same position my brother has." (Washington Post, May 27, 1968). Tim Russert recaps the quote on Meet the Press.

Whether one supports Barack Obama or not, it's well worth the time to watch this groundbreaking event. It is a powerful, unifying address. It signifies the passing of a once far-off mile-marker by America, on her ideological journey to toward equality. Forty-years ago in 1968, the day before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King Jr gave, his last speech , in which he declared:

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop...

Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!

There's a certain irony that Obama's victory speech was at Mile High Stadium (I picture MLK is smiling). MLK is not speaking of any one group when he says "we, as a people". On this night when the first African American accepts the Democratic nomination for the highest office in the world, it is not merely his victory or Dr. King's; it's not only the much-deserved victory of African Americans in their trudging haul through history - It's OUR victory in realizing one of our most fundamental ideals "that all men are created equal". We should celebrate our generation's place in history. And proudly passing that torch, the beacon of equality on to the next generation, we will know that we have been worthy stewards.