I’m quite intrigued by this Wall Street Journal article about the legacy of presidential writing. In it, Jonathon Raban compares Obama’s writing skills to Lincoln’s, and the power that good writing can give to a presidency.

I have not read Obama’s memoirs, nor have I studied Abraham Lincoln’s speeches, both of which I’d like to read and study. But I certainly appreciated this particular author’s insights into leaders and their writing.

I really enjoyed studying Churchill’s speeches last year.

What governmental leaders have impressed you with their writing?

Remember, your artist is a child. Find and protect that child. Learning to let yourself create is like learning to walk. The artist child must begin by crawling. … Give yourself permission to be a beginner. By being willing to be a bad artist, you have a chance to be an artist, and perhaps, over time, a very good one.

Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way, page 29-30

“The light of genius expressed in literature does not fail with the death of the author. His galleries are still displayed for our instruction and enjoyment. But the magic key which could have opened new ones to our eager desire has gone forever. Let us, then, guard the treasures which he has bequeathed.”

Sir Winston Churchill, tribute to Rudyard Kipling, 17 November 1937, quoted in Never Give In! The Best Winston Churchill Speeches.