channel = 'to speak in imitation or emulation of'

[Jonathan Lighter]

In early September there was a discussion on the "Grammar Girl" thread
about Laura Ingraham's derisive assertion that Barack Obama was trying
to "channel" Dr. Martin Luther King in terms of cadence, pronuciation,
etc.

CNN reports that "later today" (without derision) that "Pres. Obama
will channel Theodore Roosevelt" in a speech at Osawatomie, Kans.,
intended to boost progressive policies rather as TR did at the same
place in 1910.

Google "obama roosevelt channel" and you'll find many expressions of
the same thought over the past few days.

(But maybe he's just going to imitate Roosevelt's voice!  See how he
does by listening here first :

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/papr:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(trrs+1146))+ at field(COLLID+roosevelt))


JL

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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