Presidential vocabulary

Andrew Sullivan points out that presidents have invented a good handful of words, and this fits in the tradition of American's creating their own unique language, distinct from the British - who were a bit protective of it. It was a way for us to carve out our own identity. Here'a a quote he offers from a more thorough source:

Noah Webster early on says this is not the king's English, this is not the language of the nobilities; it's the language of the trapper and the farmer and the tradesman. So early on it was almost a patriotic thing. Thomas Jefferson to this day has 114 words credited to him in the Oxford English Dictionary. The most famous, and the one that drove the British nuts, and even up through Fowlers Modern English Usage, which came out in the middle of the 20th century, still bothered by it, was 'belittle.'

It bothered the British deeply that an American could just come up with a word like this. They thought it was their language and we got to use it. We weren't supposed to tinker with it.

And here's one of the more famous (alleged - he apparently never said the word) presidential contributions to the English language:

Obama's Jobs Speech

In both 2301and 2302 - later in the semester - we discuss the concept of "going public" where a president, sensing an opportunity, takes a message directly to people, over the heads of Congress. If the president is more popular than Congress - and as low as his ratings are at the moment, Congress' are much lower - he can rally the public behind his proposals,

That's probably the logic underlying today's jobs speech. It may have also served to kick off his re-election campaign. Its probably not a coincidence that he gave this the day after a Republican debate. He probably hoped that he would appear favorable in comparison. Poll results should let us know whether the strategy was successful.

This is the political background of the speech.

There is also the practical question whether any of the proposals made will actually have an impact on jobs, and if they do, if the costs associated with those programs justify the expense. I'll post a few items related to how we figure that question out (do tax cuts or infrastructure projects really stimulate jobs? etc...)

And there is the question whether his proposals are politically feasible in an environment that is politically hostile to him. Republicans are normally not receptive to his proposals in general (think: Obamacare), but again, their poll numbers are lower than Obama's so they are as worried about their jobs as is the president.

Some links for further background:

- The transcript of the speech.
- The American Jobs Act.
- A compilation of reactions. (and more reactions)

On Translating the Bible

In 2301 -- in our discussion of the freedom of the press -- we covered the political consequences of the invention of the press: the fact that people could become literate and challenge how certain texts were related to them: Biblical text primarily.

Andrew Sullivan draws attention to a Christopher Hitchens' article on the political background of the King James' version of the Bible.  

First Amendment Controversy

Some of you have been assigned later in the semester to summarize a very problematic Supreme Court decision concerning whether we are free to look at images that depict children in sexual situation--but do not involve actual children. They are either adult actors portraying children or computer generated images of them.

Here is a recent controversy taking the issue one step further. An actual child actress is plays a character who is raped, and the depiction is apparently graphic (I haven't seen it so I don't know).

Does this cross the line? Or is the severity--and unfortunate actuality--of child sexual abuse worth depicting? Does it matter if an actual child is involved?

I need feedback.