As many people must have heard, Barack Obama stopped in State College last Sunday on his six day tour of Pennsylvania. The girls and I were there with 22,000 other people for the largest political rally in State College history. (See, the Daily Collegian’s report and that of the Centre Daily Times.)
Here is a picture I took during the event, along with a YouTube video that captures the scope of the rally at Penn State.
Although I had heard many parts of the speech before, Obama seemed focused and energetic during the rally. I was struck in particular by how bold his vision of politics really is. It is guided at its core by a strong commitment to social justice both at home and abroad.
This was reinforced today on the 40th anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination, when Obama spoke of the need of all of us to work to bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice.
From Obama’s speech today in Forth Wayne, IN:
You know, Dr. King once said that the arc of the moral universe is long, but that it bends toward justice. But what he also knew was that it doesn’t bend on its own. It bends because each of us puts our hands on that arc and bends it in the direction of justice.
So on this day – of all days – let’s each do our part to bend that arc.
Let’s bend that arc toward justice.
Let’s bend that arc toward opportunity.
Let’s bend that arc toward prosperity for all.
And if we can do that and march together – as one nation, and one people – then we won’t just be keeping faith with what Dr. King lived and died for, we’ll be making real the words of Amos that he invoked so often, and “let justice roll down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
https://youtube.com/watch?v=P1-v_07I7Ik%26hl%3Den
