Dissecting Rick Kline’s “Bouncing Roundâ€Obama Talks up Economy…”

Rick Klein’s writing deceptively looks like he merely pastes   together the   many sources of opinions he cites.  Ã‚   In this article, he starts a sequential process from   one initial   opinion, followed by   contrary viewpoints   that unravel the author’s intended meaning.The reader will however detect the meaning from relating all the juxtaposed opinions. At times   the opinions seem to clash against each other, but   actually they   progress towards a unified point.   Generally, the conclusions are not directly said, or not those that had been written, but the implications of all of them.   At times,   Klein presents a panorama of many ideas which cancel out one another, and the most likely logical ones stand out sometimes with the stroke of one most convincing opinion.The impressive point here is, the author never seems to   impose any opinion on his readers.   Hs readers conclude from the wide array of choices he presents.Formally no w, let us classify the major divisions of his article on Obama cited in this study.He starts with a rhetorical question   enumerating significant topics –defense cuts, war funding, economic stimulus, immigration push— which he dissects one by one more extensively throughout the essay.   From there the author tackles the issue in the same order as the way he laid them down as rhetorical questions.Klein implies his sympathy for Obama all throughout   the essay,   but again he does this   through   quoted writers.   For example he starts a topic with this quote:   Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The ailing financial system†¦. showed tentative signs of strength †¦.† –quoting a Washington Post article by Shin and Merle.   Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ËœThen follow   four more endorsements of the economy as showing positive signs. He clearly agrees, but not without giving you some relief of skepticism.   And this he does with†¦..A dampener in the next topic:   â⠂¬Å"Will it work?   Paul Krugman, skeptical again†¦.†Ã‚  Ã‚   Followed by several paragraphs   that clearly intend to cast some doubts on the economic recovery†¦..And yet the doubts are meant to subtly enforce the impression that Obama is taking the right track.The subsequent paragraphs are indirect allusions to the difficulties of Obama in negotiating the difficulties ahead.   Some   problems suggested were:   the difficulty of asking Congress to increase the war budget, the risk he is taking in escalating the Afghanistan war,   Ã‚  Obama’s difficult task of appeasing the world, and his difficulties in dismantling the remnants of American abuse in Guantamano.   Again these opinions are not from the mouth of the author.   They were culled from several other writers.Then comes his subtle endorsement of Obama’s centrist positioning on domestic and international issues, now presented in terms of a Ronald Brownstein’s prescription tha t his solutions are likely to sustain public opinion, â€Å"if they accommodate diverse perspectives.†   The next paragraphs from various writers show Obama’s   difficulties, ending up with a depiction of the   hard choice he faced in having to defer immigration issues for at least a year.   And again, Klein presents the pros and cons from other writers’ mouths.Finally, Klein tackles   the significant issue of stimulus package, a key Obama initiative—among the major items of his initial rhetorical questions.   He starts by a defensive posturing of an Obama opponent.   The he cites opinions that weaken anti-Obama critics.Regardless of the apparent attempt to not sound like an Obama apologist, the net effect of the opinions presented   show that even the criticisms are in effect, â€Å"playing politics† against Obama,   in the word of another writer which Klein quotes ( ABC’s Teddy Davis).This sympathetic tone for Obama is cl early enforced when he cites Bill Sammon from Fox News†¦.   this time, radically giving   away   the author’s   sympathies:   He introduced this paragraph now as :   â€Å"Such a shame to see partisanship return†¦.† Coming not from another writer’s pen but from Klein’s himself, a give away. .The last rhetorical question was a petty subject:   When the first puppy would be brought to the White House?–presented as one of those â€Å"issues† the President was to face.  Ã‚   It also ended the article in   the spirit of the last rhetorical question:   Where will Obama   have his first Protestant Sunday service?