Good news, folks!  I think I got a stumper here for everyone today:

In a (newly-discovered) speech, MT mentions a few of the hot cultural topics
of the time (around March 1882 or so).

One of them in the list is:  "James G. Blaine and the obelisk."

Blaine, senator from Maine, ran for president in 1884, and the obelisk may
be the "Cleopatra's Needle" erected in Central Park, NY, around that time,
or possibly it refers to the Washington Monument (?).  Maybe Blaine
dedicated the obelisk in Central Park, but I am not running that fact down.

What might be the popularly understood connection of the two?

Harold K. Bush
Saint Louis University