John Edwards at the Riverside Church

Presidential hopeful John Edwards addresses the Riverside Church on King Commemoration Day.

Edwards spoke about King's work as a defender of the poor and a proponent of peace. He spoke about healthcare and noted that in King's opinion, of all the forms of inequality in our society, inequality in health care is the most cruel.

Edwards praised Wesley Autrey, the Harlem construction worker who risked his life to save a fellow subway rider from an oncoming train in early January.

Edwards said, "And the question we all ask ourselves, is: Would I do that for another person?"

The audience suddenly responded, "Yes!" (As in, "Yes, that's the question.")

I'm not sure if Edwards was expecting a call and response, but it was quite an exhilarating moment. It's hard to explain exactly why it was such a satisfying exchange.

Maybe because I'm used to call and response exchanges where the speaker literally calls on the audience, and the audience is expected to underscore his point.

Whereas, here, it seemed as if Edwards managed to put his finger on something everyone had been thinking about a lot, without realizing, until that moment, that everyone else had been wrestling with the same question. So, the response felt more like a collective "Aha!"