Douglas Brinkley predictably fawned over President Obama's apparently "very beautifully written"
address marking the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a
dream" speech, mere moments after he finished delivering it: "I think it's one of the great speeches that Barack Obama's ever delivered." [audio available here [1]; video below]
Scott Pelley turned to Brinkley during CBS's special coverage of the
anniversary rally. The liberal historian was quick to sing the
President's praises:
SCOTT PELLEY: Doug Brinkley, noted American historian, professor of
history at Rice University – as we embark on the next 50 years, what
will this day mean to us?
DOUGLAS
BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, I think it's one of the great
speeches that Barack Obama's ever delivered. It had a theme of – the
coalition of the conscience, he put it – about moral and economic
justice. So, in President Obama's history, it's a seminal moment. But I
think, most importantly, it's saying the struggle continues, and that we have to fight against, as the President said, the greed-mongers.
There's a – it gets back to that 99-to-one notion that he ran on in his
campaign – that we've got to pull together – and he started talking
about everyday people that make a difference by lending a helping hand –
very beautifully written.
The Rice University professor has a history of gushing over Obama. The day of the Democrat's first inauguration in 2009, Brinkley likened the Democrat to FDR [2] and George W. Bush to Herbert Hoover. More recently, in October 2012, during the last days of the presidential race, the historian did his best to boost the incumbent [3]: "He's [Obama] a very natural person....He's a really warm and genial person. What he has going for him is he exudes family values."
Earlier in 2013, Brinkley hailed Obama's reaction [4] to the not guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman trial: "It certainly was historic....I think it elevated the Trayvon Martin story, really, to the annals of DayGlo, top-tier history....it was quite memorable." He later heralded the President as a "constant grief counselor."