Well it’s over. The confetti has been thrown and the slogans repeated over and over and over again. Barack Obama gave his acceptance speech last night. There were multiple rhetorical tricks like flipping the celebrity charge on its head and the constant refrain about his middle America background. However, the one thing that Obama did shows how race is a tender and touchy subject.

Yesterday was the 45th anniversary of the  March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Organized by Bayard Rustin, the speakers at the rally were a who’s who of American history: Roy Wilkins, A. Philip Randolph, Whitney Young, John Lewis, and a reverend named Martin Luther King, Jr.

As the first black man to lead a major party in a November election, Obama has a lot of history thrown at his feet. But as his campaign has proven, Obama is leery of taking on the race mantle. Hard to get elected as president of a whole nation if you only play to 13 percent of the population.

So last night after making a case for why people should vote for him, reasons that were post-racial, Obama mentioned the historic event that changed the course of the country’s history. Obama didn’t say King’s name, just called him a “Georgia preacher.” Nor did Obama mention any of King’s complaints with the country. Instead Obama stressed the universal message of King’s speech, without quoting  the over-used “content of their character” line.

And that has always been the crux of Obama’s campaign. Universal themes stressed by a man of color. A willingness to acknowledge our racial divide, but also an insistence that it isn’t as large as we assume.

No matter what happens in November, that’s worth remembering.