Elevator Obama

Slate.com’s article by Emily Yoffe introduces the idea that Obama was able to win the election based off of his ability to appeal to the psychological concept of elevation. Researcher Dacher Keltner has been investigate this relatively new theory and is convinced the powerful emotional state was the reason for success.

Primarily, I think the article does a great job of establishing its appeals to rhetoric. Kelter is presented as a professor of psychology at a well known university who has been researching emotions for some time. The article also mentions that he is currently writing a book on his findings that will soon be released. Just these few tidbits accomplish the task of portraying Kelter as a justified knowledgeable source for the article. The article also incorporates two dead philosophers who had supported the general concepts. By adding a quote from Greek philosopher Longinus the reader is given a feeling of elitism while the quote from Thomas Jefferson adds patriotism.

Moving on to actual analysis of the article I find it a little less impressive. The easiest thing to see is the repetition of the idea of the warm liquid feeling. This is to be considered the core of “elevation”. This idea was enhanced when elevation was described as observing other’s character, virtue, or “moral beauty.” This got to be a little too much emotion for me even in an article on emotion. On the other hand I feel the use of Jim Jones and Adolf Hitler was an excellent design for the article. These evil men were able to snap the reader out of the world of “moral beauty” and back into reality.

I think this article was decent. It introduced and presented a difficult idea relatively well in a sensitive topic.