Pick one of the following:
1. Write a Saturday radio address for President Obama. (You may find past addresses at http://www.whitehouse.gov/weekly_address/). The address itself should take two pages. Then write a two-page essay explaining what you are trying to do in the address. What message are you sending to what audience for what intended effect?
2. Look at various schemes for rating presidents (e.g., Pika 149-150 and http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007243). Identify a president about whom at least two of the ratings disagree strongly. Explain why this president’s performance gets such divergent grades. That is, what did this president do to trigger such different reactions from different raters?
3. You have a time machine and the opportunity to advise Barack Obama or John McCain on one campaign decision. What should he do differently, and why?
4. Subject to my approval, write a four-page essay on any relevant topic of your choice.
Essays should be typed (12-point), stapled, double-spaced, and no more than four pages long. I will not read past the fourth page.
If you pick the second option, please provide me with a way to read the speech or article. If it is on the Internet, include the URL in your references. If it is available only on dead tree, please attach a photocopy, which will not count against the page limit.
Put your name on a cover sheet. Do not identify yourself on the text pages.
Cite your sources. You may use either endnotes or parenthetical references to a bibliography. In either case, put your documentation in a standard format (e.g., Turabian or Chicago Manual of Style).
Watch your spelling, grammar, diction, and punctuation. Errors will count against you.
Return essays by the start of class, Wednesday 28 October. Essays will drop one gradepoint for one day's lateness and a full grade after that. I will grant no extensions except for illness or emergency.
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