In his farewell speech, Obama quoted Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” In light of the white backlash against having had a black president, however, the Atticus Finch of “Go Set a Watchman comes to mind, making Obama’s allusion seem a bit weak.
Tag Archives: Barack Obama
Obama’s Problematic Allusion to Atticus
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Donald Trump, Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee, racism, To Kill a Mockingbird | Comments closed
Obama Calls Upon Us To Be Wiglaf
Putting the president’s farewell address last night in terms of Beowulf, Obama was calling upon us to be Wiglaf. Wiglaf is Beowulf’s nephew who, after having lived a comfortable life during Beowulf’s reign, realizes that Beowulf can’t solve all his problems. He must step up himself to save the country from the dragon.
Good Readers Make Good Presidents
Continuing with the favorite literature of our presidents, here is Eisenhower through Obama.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged American presidents, Bill Clinton, Dwight D. Eisenhower, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan | Comments closed
Wishing Hillary Godspeed
What are we to make of these charismatic men like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama supporting Hillary? I offer up Thomas Hardy and James Baldwin references to advance different interpretations.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged 2016 presidential race, Hillary Clinton, James Baldwin, Jude the Obscure, Sonny's Blues, Thomas Hardy | Comments closed
We Shall Not Look Upon His Like Again
Obama’s speech passing the baton to Hillary Clinton last night brings to mind a passage from “Hamlet.”
Bringing an End to Bernie’s Romance
The Democratic Party has been striving to let Bernie Sanders down slowly, even as it separates him from his dream. It is like the way upper crust society in Edith Wharton’s “Age of Innocence” separates the protagonist for the scandalous woman he has fallen in love with.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Age of Innocence, Bernie Sanders, Democratic Party, Edith Wharton, Hillary Clinton, Presidential Primaries | Comments closed
Resisting the Witchery of Nuclear Warfare
Today Barack Obama will be the first American president to visit Hiroshima. Laguna Pueblo author Leslie Marmon Silko has an explanation for the development of the bomb: witches.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Ceremony, Hiroshima, Leslie Marmon Silko, nuclear bomb, nuclear warfare, witchery | Comments closed
Obama Is to Trump as Albany Is to Goneril
While Trump calls for torture of terrorists and Ted Cruz calls for carpet bombing them, President Obama calls for America to take the high moral road. He sounds like Albany arguing with Goneril in “King Lear.”
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Donald Trump, ISIS, King Lear, torture, William Shakespeare | Comments closed
“We the People,” Nourishing Words
In “Loves and Fishes” David Whyte pushes against the information age by pleading for poetry’s respect for language. “One good word is bread for a thousand,” he writes. A “Washington Monthly” columnist quotes President Obama with a good candidate for that word.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Loaves and Fishes", David Whyte, Declaration of Independence | Comments closed
