The Dream and The Inauguration

Media outlets are reporting that Americans believe that Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream has been fulfilled as a result of Barack Obama's election to the presidency. In fact, a new CNN poll found that more than two thirds of African-Americans believe that to be true.

The poll found 69 percent of blacks said King's vision has been fulfilled in the more than 45 years since his 1963 "I have a dream" speech -- roughly double the 34 percent who agreed with that assessment in a similar poll taken last March.

But let us not forget that economic justice was a central component of King's vision. In fact, at the time of his assassination, King (with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference) was focused on the "Poor People's Campaign," an effort to promote a bill of rights for poor Americans.

The election of Barack Obama by itself does not erase the fact that economic inequality in our nation is at historic highs. This inequality disproportionately affects the black community. There is work to be done. Educational opportunity provides a path to success in the labor market and resulting economic gains. President Obama has a tremendous opportunity to be not just a physical embodiment of King's dream but to change national policies that feed inequality, both in opportunities and in outcomes.

Poll: Obama Favored on Education Issues

UPDATE: Sherman Dorn offers cautions (here and here) on this poll's methodology.

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A new Gallup/Phi Delta Kappan poll shows that voters overwhelmingly favor Obama over McCain on education issues.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Amy Hetzner provides a nice summary of the campaign-related portions of the poll.

A new poll on the public’s perception of education indicates that more think Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama would be better for public schools than think rival John McCain would, even on the traditionally Republican issue of parental choice.

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While President Bush ran neck-and-neck in previous polls with Democratic candidates Al Gore and John Kerry on the question of whom respondents would vote for solely based on a desire to strengthen public schools, Obama was favored 46% to 29% over McCain on the same question this year, according to the poll.

People also found Obama much more likely than McCain to close the achievement gap between white and minority students, by a factor of 59% to 18%.

Obama’s weakest showing was on the issue of promoting parental choice. But even there he beat the poll’s 3 percentage point margin of error, with 43% saying he would be better vs. 32% for McCain.