Rod Blagojevich and Rudyard Kipling

I was listening to the radio just the other day and could not believe it when I heard Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich quote the popular English poet Rudyard Kipling. It actually offended me in a small way.

I love the poetry of Rudyard Kipling, and over the years I have argued that he was not so much a racist, but a poet who wrote about the romantic and heroic times that he lived in. As for Rod Blagojevich, while I believe you are Innocent until proven guilty, I just found it odd that he would choose that poem.

And then I read NPR's Linton Weeks article titled Rod Blagojevich And The Poetry Slam. The article gave me a total new take on Rudyard Kipling and his poem It.

Rudyard Kipling @Amazon.com