The article “Radical in the White House,” was written by Thomas L. Friedman who has been chief diplomatic, White House, and international economics correspondent for The New York Times and is currently the foreign affairs columnist there. In his foreign affairs column, in The New York Times, is where this article was published, the day of President Obama’s inauguration.
This article was written because electing the first African-American into the office of the President of the United States is a significant event in the history of the U.S. Friedman writes this article to the American people and has basically written out what the majority of people want or expect from Obama as President. He also writes toward Obama as well, telling him “That is why this voter is hoping Obama will swing for the fences. But he also has to remember to run the bases.”
Friedman’s argument is that Obama needs to be radical, to not waste this opportunity given to him and that he needs to make tough decisions and changes to America. Friedman uses a quote from Michael J. Sandel that compares Obama to the likes of John F. Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson which says that “They rewrote the social contract, and redefined what it means to be a citizen. Obama’s moment, and his presidency, could be that consequential.” Also it’s not just that Friedman wants Obama to be as good as he was represented to be, he wants him to be better than that, to be an overachiever.
