President Obama’s second inauguration is rich with both symbolism and irony. Remember that Obama became president 40 years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and 40 years after Sen. Robert F. Kennedy appeared to be the only white politician in America who could envision an African American occupying the same Oval Office that his brother, John F. Kennedy, once did.
”Things are moving so fast in race relations. A Negro could be president in 40 years,” Bobby Kennedy said one week before his own assassination. ”There is no question about it. In the next 40 years, a Negro can achieve the same position that my brother has.”
The political manifestations don’t stop there. In fact, it’s just beginning. For the 57th inauguration, Obama has chosen to use three Bibles during the swearing-in ceremonies: one belonging to Dr. King; one that President Abraham Lincoln used and the third from the family of his wife, first lady Michelle Obama.
