In a New Yorker essay about presidential rhetoric, Jill Lepore highlighted the book Rhetorical Presidency by Jeff Tulis ’72, who suggests that the founding fathers didn’t expect or even want the president to communicate directly with the masses. Wrote Lepore, “Tulis and other scholars who wrote on this subject during the Reagan years generally found the rise of the rhetorical presidency alarming. By appealing to the people, charismatic chief executives were bypassing Congress and ignoring…the founding fathers, who considered popular leaders to be demagogues.” According to Tulis, engaging the public directly leads to “a greater mutability of policy, an erosion of the processes of deliberation, and a decay of political discourse.” Tulis, associate professor of government at UTexas–Austin, is a Laurence Rockefeller Visiting Fellow at Princeton this year. [Original story]

The election at Bates

Hey all. Regardless of what presidential candidate you supported there is no doubt that Tuesday night was a special night for America. To see Barack Obama, an African-American, be elected as President of the United States, is truly something remarkable. Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, this is a historic moment in our country’s history and one that I know I will never forget.

I watched the results come in with close to 200 other Batesies in the Mays Center on a large projector. The atmosphere was festive and it was amazing being there and watching with so many other people who had voted for the first time and were so invested in the presidential race. I will leave you with these pictures and a video that I took with my new camera so you have an idea of what it was like. Until next time… once again congratulations to Barack Obama.