Obama’s Ingenious Mention of Atticus Finch
The president’s farewell speech evoked a flawed American icon—perhaps to remind America of the best version of itself.
“If our democracy is to work in this increasingly diverse nation,” Barack Obama said in his farewell address last night, “each one of us must try to heed the advice of one of the great characters in American fiction, Atticus Finch.”
He then quoted Finch: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view ... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
In the moment, it occurred to that Finch also provided less-palatable quotes on diversity. Like,
