tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post6111244956547617460..comments2024-03-10T20:46:19.274-04:00Comments on In the Middle: Today and TomorrowCord J. Whitakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06224143153295429986noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-36486581331368265112009-01-20T14:09:00.000-05:002009-01-20T14:09:00.000-05:00Thanks for that, Prehensel: I thought about your c...Thanks for that, Prehensel: I thought about your comment this morning, as I sat with my son on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and we gazed at the Washington Monument.<BR/><BR/>I'm just back from the Inauguration, and I have to say it was great: so much joy, so much optimism, so much hope. I froze but it was SO worth it.Jeffrey Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17346504393740520542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-622196839612316152009-01-19T15:34:00.000-05:002009-01-19T15:34:00.000-05:00Powerful post, JJC. I have also been struck by th...Powerful post, JJC. I have also been struck by the Lincoln Mermorial--since my 8th-grade class tip there. But I have thought about ti even more so after someone on CNN (I think it was Gergen) noted that there's the Washington <I>Monument</I> and the Lincoln <I>Memorial</I>, and he stressed the difference in the names. <BR/><BR/>I found it fascinating that Washington has become static, monumentalized in his and our pasts. He is what we decided he was and hasn't really changed. He's become sort of a symbol for a set of amorphous, sacred ideas that are rarely questioned, and therefore rarely acknowledged in any significant way. <BR/><BR/>Lincoln, on the other hand, is memorialized: we are keeping his <I>memory</I> alive that way, so (and this is what Obama understands so well) he becomes a still-living, still-a/effective symbol. He's put to work by both Republicans and Democrats because what he's come to represent for us are issues that have not yet been seized by the rusts of dogma. <BR/><BR/>I find that fascinating and comforting at the same time.prehenselhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04801371989123252511noreply@blogger.com