Not a mother for a child (or vice versa).
Or a husband for a wife (or vice versa)
Or a patriot for country.
No, the truest form of love is when a Senior Editor of The New Republic pens a guest column in The NY Times about young Obama, Young Obama’s Poetic Politics:
One of the things that most excited writers and intellectuals about Obama the candidate in 2008 was his literary sensibility. In her essay “Speaking in Tongues,” the novelist Zadie Smith enthused about Mr. Obama’s ability, in his memoir, to convincingly channel a wide range of voices: “Obama can do young Jewish male, black old lady from the South Side, white woman from Kansas,” and on and on. This gives him something in common with the author of “The Waste Land,” that chorus of disparate characters, whose working title was “He Do the Police in Different Voices.” ….
Mr. Obama’s ability to recognize the poetic truth of [T.S.] Eliot’s conservatism, while still embracing the practical truth of liberalism, is what makes his letter not just a curiosity but also a hint at the complexity of his mature politics.
Yet the vicissitudes of his presidency prove that possessing an ironic, literary mind is not necessarily a help when it comes to day-to-day governing. The big revelation of the Obama presidency, for intellectuals, is that his authenticity and irony have not succeeded in making him a transformative figure — that the quality of the president can’t be directly deduced from the quality of the man.
What remains certain is that Mr. Obama has it in him to produce the best post-presidential memoir ever — if he is willing to let that unguarded early voice speak again.
And that was before Obama went gay marriage. So let’s do a rewrite of one of the sentences:
The big revelation of the Obama presidency, for intellectuals, is that his authenticity and irony have
notsucceeded in making him a transformative figure —thatthe quality of the president can’tbe directly deduced from the quality of the man.
James Taranto analyzes this literary analysis, and reaches the same conclusion I do.
It’s feeling a little like May 10, 2008, isn’t it?
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Comments
“Hurl-worthy”…defined
That was my first thought too. *heave*
So many ironies, so little time.
This is the true genius of Obama’s handlers. Present the world with a completely blank slate and allow the pseudo-intellectuals to ascribe to him whatever qualities they most desire. In this case, a novelist thinks he has wonderful literary talent. Never mind that the autobiography was not in any way “auto.”
These people sound like cult followers, and, in fact, that is what they are.
“Obama can do young Jewish male, black old lady from the South Side, white woman from Kansas,” and on and on.
Yes, he’s “done” us all….
Obama really likes writing autobiographies. He seems to be in decent health, so he’s probably got at least 2, maybe 3, more autobiographies in him.
I say we let him get started on January 21, 2013.
I’ve heard it rumored that in his next book Obama introduces his composite girlfriend from Dreams to Mr. Straw Man.
Can you feeel the luuuv toniiiiite?
1. “Obama can do young Jewish male, black old lady from the South Side, white woman from Kansas,” and on and on.
Can he do Cherokee female? One of his supporters could use a little tutoring.
2. What remains certain is that Mr. Obama has it in him to produce the best post-presidential memoir ever — if he is willing to let that unguarded early voice speak again.
a. Bad sycophant. You forgot to mention the Nobel Prize for Literature.
b. Let’s help Obama get an early start on those memoirs.
3. The big revelation of the Obama presidency, for intellectuals, is that his authenticity and irony have not succeeded in making him a transformative figure — that the quality of the president can’t be directly deduced from the quality of the man.
If this is a big revelation to them, it just goes to show that today’s intellectuals are as stupid as I thought.
Intellectuals are so stupid.
Hey, it takes a LOT of diligent application to be THAT (voluntarily) stupid!
Mr. Kirsch is suckling from a rare mammalian kool-aid producing teat … thus the udder confusion in his bromance.
Really, Mr. Kirsch. My 11-year-old daughter’s diary is more sober.
“What remains certain is that Mr. Obama has it in him to produce the best post-presidential memoir ever …”
Mr. Kirsch, I can hear the excited blood pulsing through your throbbing earlobes all the way from L.A. If he ever writes that best post-presidential memoir ever … what remains even more certain is that you have it in you to produce the most orgasmic review ever.
You’re too sexy for the Times, too sexy for the Times, too sexy for the Times …
Hi Luke
I swear that if you don’t Tweet your first sentence with a link to Kirsch’s article I’m going to steal it and do it myself…..brilliant 🙂
Here at work Twitter is blocked, so feel free to tweet me, my tweetheart!
Youtube is also blocked here at work, otherwise I’d link Donny Osmond singing “Puppy Love,” too.
Unflipping believable! Somebody send his resume to Tiger Beat!
Twitter completed….here’s Puppy Love for you:
http://youtu.be/P434_zT4b7Y
🙂
I’ll have to watch it when I get home. 🙂
As Mr. Kirsch would say,
“Someone help me, help me please
Is the answer up above
How can I ever tell them
This is not a puppy love.”
Mr. Kirsch, you are not alone. Let me introduce you … this is Chrissy … Chrissy Matthews …
“the practical truth of liberalism”
That someone could write this phrase without a trace of the irony so admired in Mr. Obama is a testament to the depth of thinking that leads so many well-educated imbeciles to support him.
Speaking in tongues indeed: excited, intellectuals, sensibility, enthused, convincingly, disparate, poetic, practical, curiosity, complexity, mature, vicissitudes, ironic, literary, revelation, authenticity, transformative, quality, unguarded….
Put down the thesaurus and back away from the keyboard.
As a knuckle dragging Neanderthal, I agree.
Time to step away from the keyboard, and put down a Thesaurus.
Goin’ to sharpen the spears, and hunt the finest dinosaur meat on God’s flat Earth-
Worthy of any wedding celebration…and apparently there’s going to be a bunch of new ones…thanks to The One.
(Sorry, couldn’t help it-)
I denounce myself.
What’s that song? “When a Man Loves a President…”
“The big revelation of the Obama presidency, for intellectuals, is that his authenticity and irony have not succeeded in making him a transformative figure — that the quality of the president can’t be directly deduced from the quality of the man.”
________________
Actually, the quality of a president can be directly deduced from the quality of the man. In Obama’s case, however, the quality of the man was vastly overrated by the self-described intellectuals in this country. Talk about irony!
It’s interesting that you should post this, Professor. I saw a reminder from Byron York on Twitter that the Washington Post had written an article about Obama’s youth in 2008. I decided to look it up and read it. Does the article about Obama sound anything like the article about Romney? Definitely not. It was written by David Maraniss. Here’s the link if you would like to read it and compare. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/22/AR2008082201679.html To me, it comes across very much like the NY Times article.
Actually I have to agree with the author here. Obama would likely make a better memoirist than president were he ever to write one. But I would submit that to be a very low standard.
“Obama can do young Jewish male, …”
I would pay good money to see Obama doing a young Bill Jacobson.
How about Obama doing Billy Jacobson doing a slow jam?
Yeeeeeah …
Wondering: What does a “young Jewish male” sound like if he’s not from NYC and doesn’t say “oy”?
Here’s something else Obama shares in common with the author of The Waste Land, in Eliot’s own words: “Oh keep the Dog far hence, that’s friend to men,
Or with his nails he’ll dig it up again!”