ZitatTim Stanley Dr Tim Stanley is a historian of the United States. His biography of Pat Buchanan is out now. His personal website is www.timothystanley.co.uk and you can follow him on Twitter @timothy_stanley.
"Barack Obama's speech on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington was classic Obama: beautifully delivered, moving, deceptive, divisive, frustrating. And, of course, it was far more about Barack Obama than it was Martin Luther King Jr....
...The conservative dream is of a free market in which individuals are free to rise and fall by the strength of their talents and character. The liberal dream is a system in which there is greater equality of outcome, facilitated by the government. "Liberty is linked to one's livelihood", said the President. And I could, as a curious historian, accept this as a simple statement of personal belief – but Obama just could not resist using lingering poverty as a cudgel to beat over the head of his political opponents. He attacked "greed is good" (that was said in a movie, sir, not by any Republican president), trickle-down and those who question the wisdom of big spending. By implication, the Right are anti-civil rights because they will not use government to bring about its full promise of greater economic equality."