A generation ago Martin Luther King stated he had a dream: that people should be judged on the content of their character, not the colour of their skin. Fast-forward to the current day and thousands are celebrating the fulfilment of this dream in the election of Barack Obama as US President.

There is an irony here; people are saying Obama’s election is great because he is black; it is good that a “black man” has taken office. The result is being evaluated on the basis of the “colour” of the president-elect’s skin. Everyone, who praises Obama’s ascendancy for these reasons, is in fact rejecting King’s dream.

Ironically King’s dream is being upheld by those conservatives, like Robert George, who opposed Obama’s pursuit of the Presidency on the basis of his character. Such conservatives considered the kinds of values Obama holds to and the policies he supported on the basis of these values to be lacking.

To celebrate Obama’s election because a black man has finally been elected to office without heeding the concerns about his character is exemplify the very racism that Martin Luther King was speaking against.