Publication details

The Chosen and The Choice: Race, Religion, and The 2012 US Presidential Campaign

Authors

SMITH Jeffrey Alan

Year of publication 2013
Type Article in Proceedings
Conference From Theory to Practice 2012: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference On Anglophone Studies
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Arts

Citation
Web http://conference.uaa.utb.cz/tp2012/FromTheoryToPractice2012.pdf
Field Mass media, audiovision
Keywords Barack Obama; Mitt Romney; United States; US Presidency; US Elections; Political Campaigns; America; Prophecy; Bible; Christianity; Providential History
Description The 2012 presidential campaign, like many American debates, was partly a contest over ways of fitting America into "providential history" - the classical story of a "course of empire" and the biblical account of a "chosen people." This campaign in particular invited such analysis because both major candidates, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, came out of communities (Mormon and African American) that have cultivated their own distinctive versions of the providential story. Reviewing the campaign and its aftermath in providentialist terms, therefore, helps reveal ways of thinking that continue to have a large influence on U.S. politics and political language.

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