Not content with analyzing the text of Bush's Second Inaugural address and the positions he advanced in it, Ira Chernus over at History News Network is now reading "between the lines" and expounding on things that may or may not have been implied in the speech. He discerns "code words" and "subtle signals" that convey secret messages to Bush's real audience -- not the nations of the world or the citizens of the republic, but the "religious right" -- and proclaim a "divinely inspired national mission" despite the President's specific assertion that God's plan is unknowable and therefore cannot dictate policy.
There is a wonderful interpretive freedom to be found in such an exercise, but I fear that Professor Chernus has crossed over into the realm of fantasy fiction.
Such is the state of the profession that assertions such as Professor Chernus' are common.
Sigh!
No comments:
Post a Comment