Reply #5: Politely

[patrice]

A couple of speakers even turned and welcomed him specifically.

BUT . . . .

He spoke first, reviewed CSK's life story. Didn't do a bad job, but definitely NOT with the intimacy and insight and intensity of *ALL* of the other speakers. I very clearly got the impression that he wasn't one of them. It was sort of like he was providing a service to the speakers who came after him, like a servant performing a needed task first, outline her story, and then the others brought Coretta Scott King to life in their words. Even without the Peace content and its obvious political implications, it was like he was an outsider emotionally.

Did anyone else get this impression? He was like a second rate member of those on the dias, as though he were there to do one of the logistic tasks associated with the program, not one of those who are part of the "Beloved Community". I was deeply impressed with the image of the King family sitting in front of him as he did this work for them, like a servant.

BTW, I think the political semantics were a by product of talking about the fact that the Woman's, and her Husband's, whole life was about Peace, i.e. the opposite of Bush's pResidency. How could they have talked about anything else in talking about her. BushCo should have been smart enough to decline the invitation. Or maybe they accepted knowing there would be some heat over Bush's un-necessary war and that Rove would just spin it to their advantage.