When Clinton (or her people) tried to make it seem that Dr. King depended on President Lyndon Johnson, and wouldn't have accomplished anything without him, Obama and his camp should have left that nugget to lie steaming on the street. The media and pundits would have weighed in on it and refuted it themselves, and the Obama gang could have stayed on message, talking about the important issues, like health care, the economy, etc. Instead, they got bogged down into wasting time in a he-said-she-said quagmire.
Dr. King would have carried on the battle for civil rights regardless of who was in the oval office, because he believed what he was doing was right and believed he could make a difference. He didn't say to himself "Gosh, Johnson will support me on this idea...I'd better start shaking it up!" Johnson was not "for" civil rights, per se. Johnson was savvy enough to know the time was right to twist a few arms, call in a few favors, and push some reforms through. To suggest that Dr. King acted only because he thought the right man was in the White House, or that he wouldn't have accomplished anything if Johnson hadn't been President, shows no understanding of Dr. King's commitment to civil rights. He would have told America of his dream even if Jefferson Davis was in the White House.
