Martin Gelin's America, part III

So, I've been reading over 250 pages of Martin Gelin's "The American Promise" since I last wrote about it. Quite a bit to cover, but I will make an attempt.

When writing on Obama and public speeches, it is interesting to note that Gelin often makes comparisons to Baptist ministers, as a resemblance in style and how to address a crowd. It especially caught his eye (or ear) when he attended a ceremony, which started sound a lot like an Obama-rally. Obviously the two influenced each other, creating a movement among African-Americans; a political mobilization among this minority probably never witnessed before in American history.

One other interesting note was the one that Gelin makes on the styles of campaigning, where both Hillary Clinton and John McCain used negative campaigning and smear-tactics against Obama, which seemed to have been successful for neither of them.

I will come back to Gelin's notes and thoughts on America, the most interesting part in the book I believe, at a later stage. I will just leave with an entertaining story on David Axelrod, the chief strategist of the Obama-campaign, who is devoted an own chapter. To Gelin, Axelrod is anything but the traditional political strategist; he "wasn't very terrifying. He had a mild voice and a timid aura. His gaze seemed chronically a little sad, like a dog who had just been left home alone. Cheeks kind of puffy, like he just woke up." Axelrod also surprises by showing an incredible sense of self-distance, saying that his mother used to tell him "I looked like an unmade bed". Terrific sense of humor, among a lot of serosity that was the Obama-campaign.