1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910969953903321

Autore

Velasco Antonio de <1974->

Titolo

Centrist rhetoric : the production of political transcendence in the Clinton presidency / / Antonio de Velasco

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Lanham, Md., : Lexington Books, c2010

ISBN

979-82-16-29590-7

1-282-49492-9

9786612494925

0-7391-3982-7

Descrizione fisica

x, 191 p

Collana

Lexington studies in political communication

Disciplina

973.929

Soggetti

Communication in politics - United States

Rhetoric - Political aspects - United States

United States Politics and government 1993-2001

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

1st paperback edition 2012.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 181-186) and index.

Sommario/riassunto

What exactly is happening when politicians evoke a center space beyond partisan politics to advance what are unmistakably political arguments? Drawing from an analysis of pivotal speeches surrounding Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign and first term in office, Centrist Rhetoric: The Production of Political Transcendence in the Clinton Presidency takes an extended look at this question by showing how the possibility of political transcendence takes form in the rhetoric of the political center. 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 rhetoric's call to transcendence weaved together forms of identification and division, insight and blindness, so as to defy the conventional assessments of both Clinton's supporters and his detractors. Centrist Rhetoric thus offers general insight into the workings of political rhetoric, and a specific appreciation of Clinton's 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.