President Obama’s jobs speech last night resembled a coach’s half time speech to a team that feels on the ropes. The Al Pacino speech in Oliver Stone’s “Any Given Sunday” comes to mind.
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Tag Archives: Barack Obama
Obama’s Locker Room Speech
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Football, Jobs speech, Oratory, politics, Ronald Reagan, Sports | Comments closed
The President Is Reading Novels? Good!
Rightwing attacks on Obama for including novels in his summer reading are all wrong. We want our presidents to be balanced and grounded, and good fiction helps one remember what is really important in life.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Abraham Verghese, Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Cutting for Stone, Environment, Freedom, Jonathan Franzen, politics, Reading lists | Comments closed
Obama Passes the Beowulf Test
When subjected to the Beowulf test on good leadership, Obama scores surprisingly well.
Grendel Unleashed in Congress
Republican brinksmanship in the halls of Congress these past few weeks has been reminding me of Grendel rampaging through Heorot Hall in “Beowulf.”
Obama as a Kurosawa Figure
Seen in the most positive light, Obama has chosen to be a mountain rather than an attack dog. The movie scene that comes to mind is Kurosawa’s shadow warrior trying to be a “mountain” in “Kagemusha.”
Beware the Fury of a Patient Man
“Beware the anger of a patient man.” This line from John Dryden’s “Absolom and Architophel” occurred to me as I was listening to President Obama’s speech this past Friday. Does the poem have any predictive value when it comes to our budget impasse?
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Absolom and Architophel, Debt Ceiling crisis, John Dryden, politics | Comments closed
Eric Cantor and Famous Literary Sneers
If you’ve been paying any attention to America’s budget battles, you know that Congressional Republicans are currently engaged in a dangerous game of chicken with President Obama over raising the debt ceiling. Today’s post on the subject features a parallel with Macbeth and a glance at famous literary sneers.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Ozymandias", Budget battles, Congress, Debt Ceiling crisis, Emily Bronte, Eric Cantor, Henry Fielding, John Boehner, Macbeth, Percy Shelley, politics, Tom Jones, William Shakespeare, Wuthering Height | Comments closed
Trollope, the Cure for What Ails Our Politics
David Brooks uses Anthony Trollope’s novel “Phineas Finn” to examine a very pressing issue, the tension between independence and service in our politicians.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Anthony Trollope, Phineas Finn, politics, Presidential race | Comments closed
Obama, Unconventional Epic Hero
Maybe Obama is like Beowulf, who watches out Grendel operates and allows the monster to strike first before responding. Then he reaches out with a firm grip. Bombast and theatrics are for others. His aim is to save the hall.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Beowulf, Circe/Mud Poems, Margaret Atwood, politics | Comments closed