Rhetoric

Sixty years ago the standard classical education - such as one got at any Jesuit college - included Rhetoric as a required course. The great classic of course was Aristotle's Rhetoric (as discussed in this Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article.)  High school study of Latin included Cicero's prosecution of Catiline, particularly the First Oration.  Fifty years ago! when I started high school at Brooklyn Prep, extemporaneous speech-making was a highly valued skill, its practitioners celebrated.

Aristotle defines the rhetorician as someone who is always able to see what is persuasive (Topics VI.12, 149b25). Obama fits the bill. James Fallows has pointed out the President's response to Ed Luce of the Financial Times:

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism. I’m enormously proud of my country and its role and history in the world. If you think about the site of this summit and what it means, I don’t think America should be embarrassed to see evidence of the sacrifices of our troops, the enormous amount of resources that were put into Europe postwar, and our leadership in crafting an Alliance that ultimately led to the unification of Europe. We should take great pride in that.

And if you think of our current situation, the United States remains the largest economy in the world. We have unmatched military capability. And I think that we have a core set of values that are enshrined in our Constitution, in our body of law, in our democratic practices, in our belief in free speech and equality, that, though imperfect, are exceptional.

Now, the fact that I am very proud of my country and I think that we’ve got a whole lot to offer the world does not lessen my interest in recognizing the value and wonderful qualities of other countries, or recognizing that we’re not always going to be right, or that other people may have good ideas, or that in order for us to work collectively, all parties have to compromise and that includes us.

And so I see no contradiction between believing that America has a continued extraordinary role in leading the world towards peace and prosperity and recognizing that that leadership is incumbent, depends on, our ability to create partnerships because we create partnerships because we can’t solve these problems alone.