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Centrist Rhetoric: The Production of Political Transcendence in the Clinton Presidency (Lexington Studies in Political Communication) Reprint Edition
Author(s): Antonio de Velasco (Author)
- Publisher: Lexington Books (UK)
- Publication Date: 2 Feb. 2012
- Edition: Reprint
- Language: English
- Print length: 202 pages
- ISBN-10: 0739139819
- ISBN-13: 9780739139813
Book Description
Faced with a divided and shrinking party, and later with a pitched battle against a resurgent conservative movement, Clinton used the image of a political center, a third way beyond liberal and conservative orthodoxies, to advance his strategic goals, define his adversaries, and overcome key political challenges. As appeals to the center helped Clinton to achieve these advantages in specific cases, however, they also served to define the means, ends, and very essence of democracy in ambiguous and contradictory ways. Touching on controversies from the early 1990s over the future of the Democratic Party, racial identity in American politics, the threat of rightwing extremism, and the role of government, Antonio de Velasco show how centrist rhetorics call to transcendence weaved together forms of identification and division, insight and blindness, so as to defy the conventional assessments of both Clintons supporters and his detractors.
Centrist Rhetoric thus offers general insight into the workings of political rhetoric, and a specific appreciation of Clintons attempts to define and adjust to the political exigencies of a critical period in history of the Democratic Party and politics in the United States.Editorial Reviews
Review
sophisticated interrogation of this force, and it is well worth our collective attention.
Antonio de Velasco’s
Centrist Rhetoric is an important recent addition to the literature….de Velasco’s argument is compelling, and the case studies represent high quality analysis. Centrist Rhetoric should be of most interest to scholars and students of the Clinton presidency and to presidential rhetoric scholars.In recent years, many scholars and pundits have bemoaned the increasing polarization and cynicism impacting politics in the United States. Concerns over growing red and blue divides and the shift to perpetual campaigning have led to anxiety over the ability of democracy to solve difficult problems in the twenty-first century. Such a polarized environment fuels distrust, as opposing sides discredit each other and reframe motives to fit partisan themes. Antonio de Velasco’s
Centrist Rhetoric is an important recent addition to the literature that seeks to examine these issues, offering a specific focus on how Bill Clinton reacted to this political environment and attempted, depending on one’s perspective, to either transform it or take advantage of it. The book provides important insights into the Clinton story even as it raises questions about centrism in modern politics that scholars in multiple fields should further examine.De Velasco balances a theoretical examination of centrism as a political and rhetorical concept with four case studies of Clinton’s centrist rhetoric from 1992 to 1996….In the end, de Velasco’s argument is compelling, and the case studies represent high quality analysis. Centrist Rhetoric should be of most interest to scholars and students of the Clinton presidency and to presidential rhetoric scholars.
