Sunday, September 26, 2010

The President as J. Alfred Prufrock ...

This paragraph made me laugh from Joseph Bottom's otherwise seriously excellent editorial, "Holy War Over Ground Zero" (First things, October, 2010), p. 3:
Nearly everyone in America seems to have opined on this situation already. Cheering it, fearing it, sneering at those who object, mocking those who favor the building of the mosque. President Obama was for it, before he was against it: first giving a speech about religion and our constitutional system so high-minded that it was audible only to bats—and then, as criticism mounted, hurriedly explaining that he wasn’t actually lending his support to the project. That is not what he meant at all. That is not it, at all. The man is turning into J. Alfred Prufrock, here before our eyes.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea."
(The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock)

Rachel said...

He should have been a pair of ragged claws, scuttling across the floor of silent seas. Would've done less damage. :)

Sheldon said...

Ha! You guys are good!