Obama on the power of words | xpostfactoid

Andrew Sprung is a close observer of Obama's rhetoric.  Click through to see how he develops his analysis.  At the base of it is Obama's insight - drawn from his experience as a community organizer - that reliable change must be at the bottom, not the top. - GWC
Obama on the power of words | xpostfactoid:
by Andrew Sprung

 "One moment in the formation of Obama's habit of mind that David Maraniss spotlights in his magisterial biography occured in high school: Barry was not the most talkative student in her class, [English teacher Barbara Czurles-Nelson] recalled. He would sit near the back of the room, relaxed, waiting for his opening in the conversation. One day they were dealing with a philosophical question about what people should most fear. The answers included loneliness, death, hell, and war. Then Barry straightened up. That was the sign that he was ready to participate, Nelson thought, when he was sure to sharpen the class discussion.  “Words,” he said. “Words are the power to be feared most.… Whether directed personally or internationally, words can be weapons of destruction” (pp. 299-300, Kindle Edition). Though the emphasis is on danger, the resemblance is still striking to the moment that first fully impressed on me Obama's potential to be the transformative president he said he wanted to be, when he again spoke of the power of words. It was in a debate with Hillary, between  the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries, Jan. 5, 2008:......" 'via Blog this'