The Rhetorical War Presidency of Barack Obama
Scholars of presidential rhetoric try to understand how presidents lead through speech. The classical studies of the rhetorical presidency examine how presidents "go public," how they use…
The Public Sphere and the Public Spectacle in Conflict: Barack Obama’s Presidential Campaign
February 10, 2007: A crowd of over 15,000 gathered at the Illinois Old State Capitol Building, where Abraham Lincoln had given his famous “House Divided” speech, anxiously…
Irony in Apocalyptic America: Reinhold Niebuhr and the Presidential Rhetoric of Good and Evil after 9/11
And in this war, we’re countering the terrorist’s dark and hateful ideology by offering a more hopeful vision – and that’s one based on freedom . .…
The Limits of Identity Politics
After the election, a student came into my office and asked me, “What is my major good for?”[1] The quote perfectly captured the post-election state of my…
Obama’s Paradoxical Legacy
As we are about to elect a new president, President Obama only has a few months left in office. What will his legacy be? Although it is…
What is Barack Obama Up To?
Are Things Going to Get Worse? Countless articles have appeared touching on the personality of President Barack Obama without giving a particularly satisfactory account of his actions…
Progressivist Hubris and Obamacare
The example of Obamacare elsewhere in VoegelinView may be found Scott Segrest's essay, "Richard Rorty and the Core of Progressivism," which deals with the presuppositions and programs…
Sands of Iwo Jima
What Every President Needs to Know I was talking to the plumber, "Oleg" by name, and when I hung up I looked at the caller ID on…
Gosplan Healthcare?
This week the machinery of the US Congress will grind furiously and may extrude a healthcare sausage that is nothing less than a Soviet style economic and…
Notre Dame, Farewell
I asked my son, a lawyer and theologian, to comment on Obama's appearance at Notre Dame. He replied promptly and his comments are below. We who graduated…