I have a fundamental objection to US News and World Report’s Lara Brown’s take on Barack Obama:
With the revelations of another new and potentially serious scandal, Obama’s presidency becomes more Grant than Lincoln each day.
Not Fitzgerald Grant’s fictional presidency of television series “Scandal” fame, for it abounds with adept fixers, perceptive optics, heroic motives and clever dialogue. I mean Ulysses S. Grant’s scandal-plagued presidency, which was replete with clumsy denials, regretful dismissals, base enticements and desperate political ploys.
Well, actually I have two. The first objection is that, strictly speaking, the ‘S’ in Grant’s name didn’t actually stand for anything, and thus probably doesn’t require a period after it*. I know, I know: pedantry. But my second objection is not pedantry: I frankly think that it does a great disservice to Grant to compare him to Barack Obama. Ulysses S Grant, after all, showed mastery of a skill set that turned out to be absolutely vital for the very survival of the United States of America. Barack Obama can read a speech off of a teleprompter. Continue reading Ulysses S Obama?