The bullet grazed the right side of his head, two inches above his ear, and lodged in the concrete behind the place where he was speaking to a crowd of thousands. He carried the small, but noticeable scar for the rest of his days, and many speculated as to the perpetrator of the act and the ramifications had the murderer been successful. Johnson's and later, Nixon's silence on the matter seemed to point toward government conspiracies, but that silence was eventually overwhelmed to irrelevancy by the American People's Revolution, as it had come to be known.

If anything, the assassination attempt galvanized the budding movement, which to that point had merely been a thing of ridicule by many of the talking heads and politicians - opinion makers. Who was this black man who would advocate for poor whites? Did he speak for Appalachian coal miners? Wasn't class outside the realm of civil rights. After the attempt, the talking heads were silent, similarly to those they spoke for, but with the turnout in Knoxville aided by unions and later Omaha, Denver, and Phoenix people began to see that, while Montgomery had been the beginning of Civil Rights, Memphis began the revolution. After 25 million showed in the last Washington march in 1971, the writing was on the wall. The Nixon administration resigned, and, in fear of a nation-wide general strike, Congress and the Supreme Court allowed Fred Shuttlesworth to be installed as president of the interim government, King preferring to maintain the nonviolent ground operation. The Vietnam War was immediately ended, though far later than anyone wanted. In 1975, and new constitution was adopted, very similar to that of the previous one, but centered around the poor people's bill of rights that guaranteed worker ownership, living wages, education, housing, and healthcare creating what Johnson could not, a great society centered on the values of equity and justice.

The revolution was profound. Throughout the world nonviolent action toppled almost every government on the planet and installed forms people centered states. It ushered in a new era of international co-operation and virtually ended expeditionary wars by Western powers. Peace, justice, and prosperity ruled the day, and it seems as if utopia has arrived.

Imagine if that bullet had been true to its target.

The Real Obama

- No significant change in Iraq; intensification of war in Afganistan.
- Gitmo's name changed to indefinite detention - same violation of habeas corpus
- War on terror's name changed to Overseas Contingency Operation - is still a never ending police action designed to ensure obedience to a global, western juridico-political order.
- failure to act dramatically in the face of national economic crisis - a hedged bet that nationalization, though politically difficult, was not required. Nobel laureate Paul Krugman argues that Obama's plans will draw out the downturn for years to come.
- Allies like us even though none of our policies have changed fundamentally.

Barack Obama is Tony Blair.