More on politicians, presidents, and literature
Sometimes I’m surprised at who is also a fellow literature junkie, no matter how low a politician they might be. Case in point: Yesterday I wrote this post about Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his penchant for quoting poetry during press conferences.
Well today, the Chicago Tribune caught on to his literary musings in this piece, and even seeks to throw in some analysis of the Governor’s taste in poetry:
The governor’s identification with Tennyson’s hero might also raise eyebrows: In Greek mythology, Ulysses was less noted for honor than for craftiness, the ancient equivalent of wink-and-nod politics. Of him, Tennyson wrote: "I mete and dole/unequal laws unto a savage race."
Making such connections, however, is always walking a thin line between inserting our own biases when none may exist, and making a worthy comparison. In this case, I think the writer of the Tribune article made a worthy comparison – just my opinion though.
Presidents and writing
At the other end of the political spectrum, we have President-elect Obama, who represents the exact opposite of Gov. Blagojevich for most people. And Obama’s own literary style can be seen in his writing and in his speeches, representing a return to the tradition of the U.S. President being statesmen – something this country has gone without for a while now.
Even the mostly conservative Wall Street Journal couldn’t help complimenting President-elect Obama on his writing in this article:
In the last year, Obama’s 1995 memoir, "Dreams From My Father" (though not his later, more conventional campaign book, "The Audacity of Hope") has been discovered by the literary profession as if it were the Comstock Lode: He wrote it himself! Every sentence has its own graceful cadence! He could as easily be a novelist as a politician!
The article then goes on to look at other U.S. Presidents who were great writers – most notable is Abraham Lincoln:
The two-minute speech that Lincoln read at Gettysburg, dedicating the battlefield as a cemetery, is a miracle of verbal compression, so tightly packed with layers of implication that even now historians and critics are still uncovering fresh subtleties in its scant 270 words of text. The Gettysburg Address redefined the purpose and meaning of the nation with such richness and precision, and with such breathtaking economy, that it has become a classic of American literature, at least as great a piece of writing as "Moby-Dick"or the very best poems in "Leaves of Grass."
While it’s not a requirement for any U.S. politician to be eloquent (just look at Sarah Palin!), it certainly helps. It shows a certain thoughtfulness and intellect that can be of great use when being the most powerful person in the world.
I must confess that I have not yet read Dreams from My Father (aff link), but now I’m curious and will add it to my ever-expanding list of books I need to read.
Related posts
- Literature heavily influenced Bob Dylan
- Defining a “literary president”
- Gov. Blagojevich & poetry make strange bedfellows
- The intersection of tattoos and literature
- Follow-up: Sex in Literature
Read More: Classic Literature, Literary News, Poetry
