
For the past eight years the term “intellectual” has been frequently interpreted by the media as a piece of anti-populist or elitist rhetoric. But in a recent article for the New Republic Ross Posnock notes that Obama’s presidency has rehabilitated the term as one of praise rather than opprobrium, and with it interest in the history of black intellectualism in America. Tapping into this renewed interest, Posnock cites Leonard Harris and Charles Molesworth’s new book, Alain L. Locke: The Biography of a Philosopher for its revealing look at the life and thought of its highly influential, yet often neglected subject. Inheriting the role of the leading spokesperson for black intellectualism from such figures as Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Boise, the authors show how Alain L. Locke both continued their legacy of leadership but also vitally updated the role. Posnock writes: Harris and Molesworth’s book “brings alive distinctive fashioning of the role of black intellectual” demonstrating his unique ability to operate as “a race man,” but also as “an apolitical aesthete,” keeping “up the pressure on both roles, as his thought continually refined itself and deepened.” Thus, expanding the influence of black intellectuals in American culture Harris and . . .
Seeing Obama everywhere? Kathleen Hall Jamieson’s not too far behind
In a story this weekend about Barack Obama’s ubiquity, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette asked Kathleen Hall Jamieson’s expert opinion about whether he’s overexposed in the media. She said no: Obama’s “target audience is that vast swath in the middle,” Jamison explained. “The audience that’s able to be persuaded is the ESPN audience, the Leno audience and the national audience that watches him in prime time.… If he’d had Internet and cable, Reagan would have done the rest of what Obama is doing.” As we’ve noted, Jamieson—a coauthor of Presidents Creating the Presidency—is no stranger to broad exposure herself. On the heels of her expert election commentary on the NewsHour, among dozens of other outlets, she’s now turned to illuminating Obama’s presidency and the issues his administration faces. This weekend alone, her wisdom appeared not only in the Post-Gazette but also in the National Journal‘s assessment of Obama’s economic message and on “On the Media,” where she reflected on the “War on Terror.” As the new president continues to use rhetoric to shape the presidency, Jamieson’s Presidents Creating the Presidency holds more timely insights about the continuing re-creation of the nation’s highest office. . . .
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