Obama's speech themes

James Fallows identifies themes running through key Obama speeches, working from the Nobel speech.

Obama's Nobel speech - James Fallows .

Those trademark elements include: The embrace of contradictions (in this case, a defense of war as a means to peace); the long view; theemphasis on institution-building; the concern about the distortionof religious and ethnic loyalties; and above all a consciousness that was once called Niebuhrian and at this rate will someday be "Obamian," which emphasizes the importance of steady steps forward in an inevitably flawed world.