The Joshua Generation

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My favorite moment from CNN last night had nothing to do with holographic reporters. Just after the polls closed in California and the network called the election for Barack Obama, each of the evening’s commentators took a moment to reflect on the victory.

David Gergen (aka Master of the American Political Universe) read the closing of Martin Luther King Jr.’s last speech, now known as “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.”

Gergen said that we are seeing the Joshua Generation come in to its own:

Barak Obama said he’s part of the Joshua generation, and “Martin Luther King was our Moses.” We’re much closer to that now. We haven’t ended our prejudice, but there’s something about this evening and this election that, I think, has made an awful lot of people feel: “You know, this is the Joshua generation. We can reach something we never though we could reach 50 years ago.”

The time of the wilderness may be ending, but the task at hand is great and daunting. The country should only be blessed with leaders, like our biblical heroes, that continue to inspire for generations.

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