More on Obama’s “positive” rhetorical style:

But Enough About Me …

Barack Obama spoke at the National Archives last Thursday on the war on terror (not that he used that term):

I stand here today as someone whose own life was made possible by these documents. My father came to our shores in search of the promise that they offered. My mother made me rise before dawn to learn of their truth when I lived as a child in a foreign land. My own American journey was paved by generations of citizens who gave meaning to those simple words—“to form a more perfect union.” I have studied the Constitution as a student; I have taught it as a teacher; I have been bound by it as a lawyer and legislator. I took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution as Commander-in-Chief, and as a citizen, I know that we must never—ever—turn our back on its enduring principles for expedience sake.

Who cares? Who cares about Barack Obama’s father, his mother, or his “own American journey”? Is his journey so noteworthy that it needs to be intruded into a presidential speech on weighty matters of constitutional law and public policy, of civil liberties and national security? After all, tens of millions of other Americans have ancestors who came to these shores in search of the promise of a better life. Tens
of millions of other Americans have lived in a foreign land—and some of them were presumably awakened early by their mothers.