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Obama Honours Martin Luther King Jr. Day With Volunteer Work

by Rob Walker | January 19, 2009 at 11:28 am

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Poster of the Chicago Sun-Times cover -- November 5, 2008 (2 of 2)

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President-Elect Barack Obama is spending his Martin Luther King Jr. day visiting wounded troops and attending dinners honouring others, in his last day before assuming the Presidency of the United States.

Obama wrote an essay for the Washington Times for MLK Jr. day, where he discussed Thomas Jefferson and the 'challenges of a new century'.

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Later, Obama will make appearances at dinners honoring Biden, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and John McCain, the man he defeated last November.

The state of our union and challenges of a new century demand that we move beyond the old debates and stale arguments. We must focus today not on the dogmas of left and right, but on practical answers to the difficult problems of our times.
The impetus for that change will come from the American people, where the ultimate power in our democracy lies.

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Obama honoured King's legacy on Monday by visiting wounded troops in a Washington military hospital. Obama had visited Walter Reed hospital during his election campaign.

President-elect Barack Obama visited wounded troops in a Washington military hospital Monday at the start of a day honoring community service on the eve of his historic inauguration.
Aides said Obama was touring the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington's northwest suburbs -- where newspaper revelations of squalor and neglect became a national scandal a year ago.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a United States holiday marking the birthdate of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., observed on the third Monday of January each year, around the time of King's birthday, January 15. It is one of three United States federal holidays to commemorate an individual person.[1]