I’m fascinated by the way that literature has helped shape and guide different American president, a subject I’ve written about in the past. Thus I was thrilled to stumble across a Barack Obama reading list compiled shortly after his inauguration. I don’t know how I missed it. According to the website The Curious Autodidact (great […]
Tag Archives: Barack Obama
Laura Ingraham Is No Jonathan Swift
Since I wrote about Swiftian satire yesterday, I was interested when a current political satirist was contrasted with Swift in yesterday’s Washington Post. Laura Ingraham has a new book out which purports to be the secret diaries of Bo, the White House dog. In his review Steven Levingston concludes that, while the book is sometimes […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift, Laura Ingraham, politics, satire | Comments closed
Fences, Good Neighbors, and Immigration
Will America’s most famous poem about fences give us any insight into the border problems we are currently experiencing with Mexico? Let’s take a look at it and find out. The poem I have in mind is, of course, Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall.” Here it is:
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Mending Wall", Immigration, Mexican border, politics, Robert Frost, Sarah Palin | Comments closed
Rethinking Dirty Harry Vigilantism
Film Friday I’m fascinated by how films function as social barometers and am wondering what kinds of films will characterize the Age of Obama. Maybe Clint Eastwood’s Grand Torino (2008) is some kind of harbinger. (Spoiler alert: I will be revealing the end of the film.) One career trajectory I never could have imagined (not […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Clint Eastwood, Film, Gran Torino, Vigilantism, violence | Comments closed
Lochinvar Obama Rides to the Rescue
Barack Obama has pulled off his greatest victory and has brought (near) universal health care to America. Last night the House of Representatives approved the Senate bill, and once Obama signs the final result, universal coverage will be the law of the land. To be sure, some drama remains. It is understood that the Senate will amend the bill […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Lochinvar", health care, politics, Sir Walter Scott | Comments closed
Dragons in the Senate
In yesterday’s post, I talked about how current gridlock in the U. S. Senate reminds me of the intractable problems that confront King Hrothgar in Beowulf. Grendel, I said, is the spirit of fratricidal rage that sets colleagues against each other and brings activity in the great hall of Heorot to a halt. Upon further reflection, […]
King Hrothgar Stymied by Congress
McConnell, a modern-day Unferth? What are we to make of the gridlock in the United States Senate these days and the refusal of Republicans and Democrats to cooperate to address the nation’s ills? (In my partisan view, columnist Thomas Friedman is right when he accuses Republicans of never having been more irresponsible, but feel free to […]
Telling the Truth about War
As the president addressed the nation Tuesday night about his decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, I found myself impressed with his seriousness and depressed over the situation. I know that he has no good options. I can’t tell whether his decision is the right one. Literature, as I’ve periodically noted on this blog, […]
Shadow Projections on the President
A couple of months ago I wondered on this blog whether some of the vitriolic attacks on Obama (as distinguished from reasoned disagreement) were driven by racism, and now I see that others are wondering the same, including Maureen Dowd and Jimmy Carter. But a reader of Andrew Sullivan’s The Daily Dish has a more […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Absolon Absolon, All the King's Men, Andrew Sullivan, Beloved, Daily Dish, Flannery O'Connor, Gloria Naylor, Human Stain, Joseph Conrad, Linden Hills, Philip Roth, right-wing anger, Robert Penn Warren, Secret Sharer, Sophie's Choice, Toni Morrison, William Faulkner, William Styron, Wise Blood | Comments closed
