Obama and Baldwin

My fellow countryman, Colm Toibin, finds remarkable similarities between James Baldwin and Barack Obama:

" They both came to see, in a time of bitter political division, some shared values with the other side. They both used eloquence with an exquisite, religious fervor. As Northerners, they both were shocked by the South. They both had to face up to the anger, the rage, which lay within them, and everyone like them, as a way of taking the poison out of themselves."

Meanwhile, Seattle-based British journalist Jonathan Raban finds remarkable similarities between Sarah Palin and Pierre Poujade, the far-right French politician, anti-intellectual and champion of the 'little guy:'

"When she said, ‘Difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull? Lipstick!’ even in the liberal redoubt of Seattle I thought I heard a roar of delighted recognition coming from my neighbours on the hill. Palin doesn’t need to say what Poujade used to tell his listeners, ‘Look me in the eye, and you will see yourself...’"