A question of presidential politics

OK, a couple of days ago was Labor Day, the unofficial beginning of the home stretch of this year’s campaign for the U.S. Presidency.

And a week or so back, The Guardian newspaper in the UK ran a piece on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his statement that Rosalind from As You Like It is his favorite Shakespearean character.

And why, exactly, do I bring this up?

ShakespeareDecision2016

Well, I want to know how the four major presidential candidates feel about the subject. Is Mark Antony (from Julius Caesar, not Antony and Cleopatra) a fave of Donald Trump? Does Jill Stein have a soft spot for Friar Laurence from Romeo and Juliet? Is a Gary Johnson a fan of Duke Vincentio from Measure for Measure? Does Hillary Clinton admire Portia from The Merchant of Venice?

Or do we have a Feste in the bunch? A Touchstone? A Richard II? Or (gulp) a Richard III?

Well, to find out, I’m sending out tweets to all four candidates… let’s see what kind of responses we get! (if any…I mean, I’m not sure I’ll hear anything back, but hey, you don’t any responses if you don’t ask the question)

[NOTE: please, this is NOT a request for everyone to tout their candidate in the comment thread…I want to hear from the candidates…]

2 Replies to “A question of presidential politics”

  1. Great idea! I hope they reply. In the meantime, can we post our guesses on their faves? (Though I suppose that could actually be two games, couldn’t it?: First, there’s who we imagine the candidates’ favorite characters might be, and then there’s who we think their favorite characters should be, given how we interpret the candidates’ backgrounds and personalities…)

    1. Jean, I love this!

      I think I’ll make this tomorrow or Saturday’s entry (I do want to keep ’em separated…plus it relieves me from having to write a hardcore entry!)…

      Thanks for the idea!

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