Obama, Kennedy and ‘the neurology of reason’

Speechwriters on either side of the aisle, it seems to me, should have David Shenk’s back as he calls in The Atlantic Online for logic, reason and rationality in political communication. In an analysis of President Obama’s and the late Senator Kennedy’s communication styles, he writes that “one does not have to agree with Obama’s specific political goals to be worried about the birthers and the town-hall intimidators. Rationality is something we should all desperately desire, and is dear to all well-meaning conservatives that I know.”

Lovers of rhetoric, can we assume we all have this point of view in common?