However, if you, like I, remember the real thing, you will want to watch the celebrated "I Have a Dream" speech of 1963 instead:
The Wikipedia article about this speech nails why "I Have a Dream" is so great, both in content and delivery:
Widely hailed as a masterpiece of rhetoric, King's speech resembles the style of a Black Baptist sermon. It appeals to such iconic and widely respected sources as the Bible and invokes the United States Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the United States Constitution. Through the rhetorical device of allusion, King makes use of phrases and language from important cultural texts for his own rhetorical purposes. Early in his speech King alludes to Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address by saying "Five score years ago..." Biblical allusions are also prevalent. For example, King alludes to Psalm 30:5[4] in the second stanza of the speech. He says in reference to the abolition of slavery articulated in the Emancipation Proclamation, "It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity." Another Biblical allusion is found in King's tenth stanza: "No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." This is an allusion to Amos 5:24.[5] King also quotes from Isaiah 40:4 — "I have a dream that every valley shall be exalted.."
Anaphora, the repetition of a phrase at the beginning of sentences, is a rhetorical tool employed throughout the speech. An example of anaphora is found early as King urges his audience to seize the moment: "Now is the time..." is repeated four times in the sixth stanza. The most widely cited example of anaphora is found in the often quoted phrase "I have a dream..." which is repeated eight times as King paints a picture of an integrated and unified America for his audience. Other occasions when King used anaphora include "One hundred years later," "We can never be satisfied," "With this faith," and "Let freedom ring."
It remains a chilling speech to hear after all of these years. King wasn't as great an orator as Mario Cuomo, arguably the best American orator of the 20th century and maybe in American history, but King was at the top of his game here. He was great.
Obama will never be in that league. People who call him a great orator wouldn't know oratory if it bit them in the ass.
