If Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had seen 50 years into the future, he might have been tempted to add "Democrats and Republicans" to the historically antagonistic pairings — "black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics" — who, in his "I Have A Dream" speech, would one day hold hands and sing "Free at last."
The parties have seldom seemed so far apart as they did Wednesday, on the 50th anniversary of King's speech and the March on Washington. Not a single spoke at the "Let Freedom Ring" event at the Lincoln Memorial, site of King's 1963 speech, though some were invited.
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio attended an earlier march commemoration on Capitol Hill, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia was traveling in Ohio and North Dakota, according to explaining why they declined invitations. Former President George W. Bush was invited by event organizers, but declined because of recent heart surgery.
Whatever the reasons, the absence of any prominent past or present Republican official in a speaking role at the commemoration is unlikely to help the party's outreach to minorities. The hulking marble presence of the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, didn't really make up for the absence of living, breathing GOP officials.
So instead of a bipartisan celebration of one of the 20th century's greatest speeches and one of the most significant demonstrations in U.S. history, the event sometimes took on the feel of a Democratic National Convention. It seemed like just one more stop on the polarization express.
President Obama was joined by former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. John Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson were represented by daughters.
The Democratic Party's domination of the event didn't necessarily mean everything the main speakers said wouldn't or couldn't attract bipartisan support.
