Burke’s Representative Anecdote and Barack Obama: Transcending Dialectical Tensions through the Crucible of 'Defining Moments'

• In Event: Applying Burkean Theory to our Political Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

This essay examines Obama’s rhetoric using Burke’s representative anecdote. Obama’s representative anecdote is the “defining moment,” which he constructs as two dialectics—change-tradition and individual responsibility-mutual responsibility—wherein these terms are transcended by a new term, perfection. Obama urges Americans to perfect our union by passing through the crucible of the “defining moment." In doing so, he encourages unity, individual moral behavior, and restorative (rather than radical) change.

Author

• Christopher Darr, Indiana University, Kokomo