But I Like Franzen more than Obama

Winding down his remarks at George Washington University, he pulled off a neat rhetorical trick. Obama upended the idea that liberty comes from self-­reliance, making the case that liberty is not constrained by community but a by-product of it. "We believe that in order to preserve our own freedoms and pursue our own happiness," he said, "we can't just think about ourselves." It's an argument that (at least to these ears) has an echo of another liberal hero: Jonathan Franzen.

The Echoes of Jonathan Franzen's 'Freedom' in Obama's Recent Rhetoric -- New York Magazine