Dryden’s “beware the fury of a patient man” applies to the speech that Obama gave last week at the Democratic National Convention.
Tag Archives: Barack Obama
Obama: From Patience to Fury
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Absolom and Architophel, cause of justice, Constitution, Democratic National Conference, Donald Trump, John Dryden | Comments closed
Trump vs. Obama, Hook vs. Pan
Thursday I was digging around in James Barrie’s Peter Pan the other day and came across something that caught me by surprise. Captain Hook’s relationship to Peter is a lot like Donald Trump’s relationship to Barack Obama. Both Hook and Trump feel outclassed. As many commentators have pointed out, Trump’s hatred of Obama seems deeply […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Donald Trump, gentility, gentleman, good form, James Barrie, resentment | Comments closed
Go High When Trump Goes Low?
Tuesday Given that a recession would doom Donald Trump’s already shaky reelection chances, how will he behave if the economy suddenly tanks? On Nicole Wallace’s NBC program last week, the Rev. Al Sharpton said that Democrats must be prepared to deal with a man who has no boundaries and will do anything to win. Of […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Al Gore, Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, Donald Trump, electoral politics, Go Set a Watchman, GOP, Harper Lee, King Lear, Othello, To Kill a Mockingbird | Comments closed
The Dark Jinn Invade America
Salman Rushdie’s “Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights” helps explain how Trump came to power. Blame it on a longing for dark fantasy.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Donald Trump, fantasy, ISIS, Muslim fanatics, Salman Rushdie, Terrorism, Two Years Eight months and Twenty Eight Nights | Comments closed
Trump, 4 Dead Soldiers, & Col. Cathcart
Trump handled the death of the four Green Berets who died in Niger like Col. Cathcart in “Catch-22” would have. A better model would be Ned Stark in “Game of Thrones.”
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Catch 22, commander in chief, death and dying, Game of Thrones, George Martin, George W. Bush, Green Berets, Joseph Heller, military deaths | Comments closed
Obama Was Invisible to White America
A Salon article explores how some of white supremacism’s rise can be traced to rage over having had a black president. Quoting Ellison’s “Invisible Man,” it makes the case that the right couldn’t really see Obama.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Song of Myself", Democratic Vistas, Donald Trump, Dreams of My Father, Invisible Man, racism, Ralph Ellison, Walt Whitman | Comments closed
The Work of the World Is Common as Mud
Marge Piercy’s poem “To Be of Use” essentially shows why Barack Obama’s legacy is likely to survive GOP repeal efforts. The difference is work that comes from a deep place as opposed to shallowly grounded executive orders.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "To Be of Use", ACA, Donald Trump, GOP, Marge Piercy, Obamacare, Trumpcare | Comments closed
Poetry as a Check against Tyranny
African American poet Rita Dove talks about the importance of poetry in resisting tyranny, especially its attack on language. In “American Smooth,” she expresses a foundational optimism about America.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "American Smooth", Donald Trump, poetry and politics, Rita Dove | Comments closed
The President Who Loved Literature
In a remarkable interview with “The New York Times,” Barack Obama spoke about the importance of literature in his life. The range of his reading and the sensitivity of his responses is astounding.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Bend in the River, Colson Whitehead, Doris Lessing, Ernest Hemingway, Fates and Furies, Garcia Gabriel Marquez, Gilead, Gillian Flynn, Golden Notebook, Gone Girl, Jack Kerouac, Jhumpa Lahiri, Junot Diaz, Lauren Goff, Liu Cixin, Marilynne Robinson, Martha Nussbaum, Maxine Hong Kingston, Moveable Feast, Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Philip Roth, Road, Saul Bellow, Song of Solomon, Tempest, Three Body Problem, Toni Morrison, Underground Railroad, V.S. Naipaul, Warrior Woman, William Shakespeare | Comments closed
