Obama's Oresteia

Aechylus' Oresteia is a three-play account of the end of the curse on the house of Atreus. Plagued by tragedy and murder, revenge for revenge for revenge, their plight is finally resolved by the Gods, and is found to have mirrored a rupture among the Gods.

Rational Apollo, bright sun, is ascendant, and all of Greece has turned his way. The Furies, older Gods, bloodier, more passionate, earthier, more feminine spirits are resentful - they are no longer esteemed, no longer hold a place in Athenian minds and hearts.

A similar predicament faces Obama. Rational, doing all for the best, he has given no breath to the darker passions, the selfish, prideful, properly possessive, protective furies. Palin is almost an ideal voice for this force, irrational but strong in defensiveness, shrill in pride, secretive but self-publicising. And not defeated by rationality - so Obama has no weapons against her.

His major success against this energy is the death of OBL, demonstrating and satisfying some of the dionysian/demoniac energy in the furies. But I think he needs more.

The Oresteia asks the Furies to attach their pride to Athens, to its laws and Government. The current obsession with American exceptionalism, religion and the Constitution are fascinating correlates, but somehow Obama is unable to be Mr America in a satisfying way to people. I think he needs an account of himself as a tragic hero of rationality, doomed by Dionysian reality.

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