Youtube of Vermont Baptist Service

[sandnsea]

I'll put up the transcript when I see it/get it. First part of youtube in the post, click through to get the other 2 parts. UPDATE: Transcript is up.
http://obama-mamas.com/blog/?p=1031


The First Family attended services at the Vermont Avenue Baptist Church this morning, a church founded by seven freed slaves in 1866. Dr King, whose photo was on the cover of the church program, delivered a sermon in 1956 after the Montgomery bus boycott and in 1968 entitled, “In search of a sense of direction” that the President would incorporate into his remarks, asking “where do we go from here”.Rev Cornelius Wheeler welcomed the President to the services which included a reading from the Book of Psalms and choir hymns “We’ll Understand It Better By and By” and “How Great is Our God”, which had the President tapping his feet and nodding his head.

Rev Wheeler stepped to the podium and addressed the congregation, “In case you haven’t noticed, some important stuff is happening here today.” Apparently he is the proud grandpa of a new baby granddaughter. “And oh, by the way, President Obama is here.” Rev Wheeler announced the church’s Haiti relief efforts and notified the congregation of a special offering next week, adding “To whom much is given, much is required,” he said

He also put in a little political commentary, saying, “I don’t know about the political correctness of this next statement, but it took eight years for them to mess everything up, I don’t know why they don’t have a little more patience while you fix it.” And then, “I’m peacock proud and tickled pink to present to you your President of these United States, President Obama.”

In another of what always seems to be the best speech yet, the President reminded us that, in spite of the election of an African-American president, America has not entered into a post-racial age, and that “Even after one of the country’s worse recessions, life in America isn’t even close to being as bad as it was (for African-Americans) doing King’s time.” He reminded all of us of what it took to make the Civil Rights Movement a success, a our generation that was called to “buckle down and get back to basics” along with Dr King’s focus on his goal, and “his eyes were always on the prize.”

He also admitted that he can get impatient with the slow nature of progress. “Some ask, ‘Why are you so calm?’ I have a confession to make. Sometimes I’m not so calm. Reggie Love knows this. Michelle knows this,” POTUS said, adding that he sometimes he gets impatient with the slow nature of progress. “It’s faith that keeps me going,” he said.

[Cha]

1. Thank you! I've been wanting to see that and

here you are..on the spot. I've heard how good it is.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. It was extraordinary. Thanks, sandnsea! nt

[firedupdem]

3. Thanks! I was looking for this... n/t

[Cha]

4. Thanks, I just saw it..What a tribute to MLK

and our Country.

<snips>

"What we need to do is to just ask what lessons we can learn from those earlier generations about how they sustained themselves during those hard winters, how they persevered and prevailed. Let us in this Joshua generation learn how that Moses generation overcame.

Let me offer a few thoughts on this. First and foremost, they did so by remaining firm in their resolve. Despite being threatened by sniper fire or planted bombs, by shoving and punching and spitting and angry stares, they adhered to that sweet spirit of resistance, the principles of nonviolence that had accounted for their success.

Second, they understood that as much as our government and our political parties had betrayed them in the past — as much as our nation itself had betrayed its own ideals — government, if aligned with the interests of its people, can be — and must be — a force for good. So they stayed on the Justice Department. They went into the courts. They pressured Congress, they pressured their President. They didn’t give up on this country. They didn’t give up on government. They didn’t somehow say government was the problem; they said, we’re going to change government, we’re going to make it better. Imperfect as it was, they continued to believe in the promise of democracy; in America’s constant ability to remake itself, to perfect this union.

Third, our predecessors were never so consumed with theoretical debates that they couldn’t see progress when it came. Sometimes I get a little frustrated when folks just don’t want to see that even if we don’t get everything, we’re getting something. (Applause.) King understood that the desegregation of the Armed Forces didn’t end the civil rights movement, because black and white soldiers still couldn’t sit together at the same lunch counter when they came home. But he still insisted on the rightness of desegregating the Armed Forces. That was a good first step — even as he called for more. He didn’t suggest that somehow by the signing of the Civil Rights that somehow all discrimination would end. But he also didn’t think that we shouldn�t sign the Civil Rights Act because it hasn�t solved every problem. Let’s take a victory, he said, and then keep on marching. Forward steps, large and small, were recognized for what they were — which was progress."

<more>
http://mydd.com/users/sandy/posts/obama-mlk-remarks-vermont-baptist

[treestar]

5. He reads ten letters a day from people

!

Out of the 40,000 per day they get.

What a wonderful President!

[goclark]

6. Thanks for posting~