The folklorist and the rhetorical critic share an interest in the strategic use of communication to induce belief and emotions or, more accurately, behavior in another person. For a long time now Mieder, usually thought of as a folklorist, has been writing articles and books that are as much rhetorical criticism as anything else. His primary interest always is in the use of proverbs and proverb-like utterances in strategic communication, but his critic’s eye also catches the uses of figures of speech beyond the proverb. In the past he has been drawn to the rhetorical performances by public figures like John Adams, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill, FDR, Harry Truman, and Martin Luther King. He knows that rhetorical critics have written extensively about the speeches and writings of these skilled rhetors, but he notes that the rhetorical critics have ignored the use of the proverb, and that’s where his expertise helps complete our understanding of the persuasive power of these politicians and public figures. Mieder’s profound appreciation for Lincoln’s rhetorical performances stands out in this body of work, but no earlier study approaches the loving care Mieder brings to this study of Obama’s rhetorical performances.
It’s a brave thing to write such a book without the comfort and perspective of passed time, but clearly Mieder answered a deep need to write this book about a politician most often compared with Mieder’s beloved Lincoln. This is a very personal book at times, especially when Mieder shows us letters he has written to the candidate and then to the President. At other times, Mieder keeps appropriate critical distance from his subject and is willing to note where an Obama rhetorical choice seems to Mieder to be a strategic mistake. Mieder’s thorough, careful scholarship writes the rhetorical history of Obama’s thinking and of the rhetorical traditions (e.g., biblical) he taps. Mieder appears to have read everything Obama ever wrote (one issue here is the ways presidents put their rhetorical marks even on speeches originally drafted by speechwriters), and he relies heavily on Obama’s two autobiographical books, Dreams from My Father (1995) and The Audacity of Hope (2006), for in-depth looks at all of Obama’s rhetorical strategies. He also offers detailed readings of a few key speeches, such as Obama’s 2004 Democratic convention speech, his March 2008 speech on race in America (promoted by the brouhaha over Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s sermons), his 2008 nomination acceptance speech, and his inaugural address. Mieder helps the reader see the continuities and discontinuities in Obama’s rhetorical choices, especially Obama’s use of proverbs and proverb-like phrases. The last half of the book consists of a detailed “Index of Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases” Mieder found in Obama’s rhetorical performances, and the reader (as always) is in awe of Mieder’s careful scholarship in assembling this index.
Mieder’s goal in this and in his previous studies of the rhetorical uses of proverbs in political speech is to show how skilled rhetors use folk speech as powerful tools for persuasion. But he also has an interesting thesis he really doesn’t flag. One of the features of Obama’s politics is his belief that people with broad differences can be brought together to find common ground on a public policy. Obama’s passion for bipartisan approaches to legislation and policy may be a strength or may prove to be his tragic flaw; we have to wait for history’s verdict on that. But Mieder argues that “at least in part it is through his [Obama’s] proverbial language that he stylistically finds a common denominator of effective communication, where the metaphors of the proverbial phrases add commonality and common sense for everybody to understand his sociopolitical rhetoric” (6). This strikes me as an extremely important thesis, given the ways the Obama election ramped up the culture wars to rhetorical extremes we have not seen in a long while. Obama’s search for “commonality and common sense” has profound consequences, and Mieder’s thesis deserves detailed attention. Whether Americans “share” some core “common sense” about things is a question worth asking and answering, and Mieder proposes at least one way to assess our commonality. I wish Mieder had not buried this thesis in the middle of a paragraph; the idea deserves bells and whistles.
The one piece missing for me is that Mieder does not show us how the rhetorical style of the tradition of African American preaching shows up in Obama’s rhetoric. Put differently, Mieder does not give us enough of the religious context for Obama’s rhetoric, including the all-important matter of the rhythms of the speech. Mieder touches on religion a bit, especially with reference to the biblical sources of proverbs and metaphors, but I would have liked to have seen more here on the resemblance between an Obama speech and a sermon, for example. Mieder may feel that this context goes beyond his expertise, and that is a fair enough point, but I missed this context anyway.
I hope that the community of rhetorical critics finds this book. Folklorists will find it easily enough, so solid is Mieder’s reputation in that community. But I know that those who are interested in the rhetorical history of the presidency will find Mieder’s book a new and exciting way to look at Obama’s rhetorical choices. These are two communities—folklorists and rhetorical critics—that should be reading more in each other’s discipline anyway; the Mieder book makes a wonderful bridge between them.
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[Review length: 901 words • Review posted on October 27, 2009]