Stunning Break with Last Eight Years
In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.
Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama's appearance on CBS' "Sixty Minutes" on Sunday witnessed the president-elect's unorthodox verbal tick, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.
But Mr. Obama's decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.
According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota , some Americans might find it "alienating" to have a President who speaks English as if it were his first language.
"Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement," says Mr. Logsdon. "If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist."
The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, "Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate - we get it, stop showing off."
The President-elect's stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska .
"Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can't really do there, I think needing to do that isn't tapping into what Americans are needing also," she said.
8 comments:
Will Joe the Plumber be among the few to have 'written' a book before actually reading one? I read where his 'book' will be 'released' December 1. Should be a thoughtful, considered piece given the time spent.
Hmmm. I didn't realize that "uh...uh...uh...uh" was a word.
PCC,
Obama did give a few talks where he "umed" through them, but, if you're living in the present, that hasn't happened again.
There are no other people on the planet, except maybe certain rightwing negative nabob conservatives, who believe President-elect Obama is a poor speaker.
But that's understandable, you guys believe Palin is brilliant and should run for president!
;-)
I don't think I'll be able to understand a president who doesn't drop all his g's, say ta for to and just, in general, sound like Gabby Johnson.
It's amazingly easy to speak in complete sentences when you're using a Teleprompter, as Obama does in nearly all of his appearances. It's when you have to speak off the cuff that it becomes more problematic. It's easy to tell with our President-elect when he's not using one; the uhs and disjointed sentences come out.
The man can deliver a speech very, very well. Probably better than Reagan, and Reagan is the gold standard.
Interestingly, if you ever saw GWB in a smaller, more intimate setting, you'd see he's a very good speaker. But put him behind a podium and he tries to be more formal, and it doesn't work well for him.
I'm assuming, DLB, that you have similar trouble with any speeches by any of the Kennedys? You know, dropping all the Rs, saying ah for I, and sounding like the mayor on The Simpsons?
Gordon said:
It's easy to tell with our President-elect when he's not using one; the uhs and disjointed sentences come out.
Yet you never noticed the C in C over the past eight years?
Puhleeze.
Obama is articulate. Far more so than what we have grown used to thus far from the White House in the early 21st century.
Get serious.
At least we know that Obama's gaffes will be well-worded.
Did you see Obama on 60 Minutes?
And in other venues where there was no teleprompter?
He does just fine.
Look, you guys, Gordon, PCC, dmarks, are all incredibly jealous that Obama isn't one of yours. Really.
You're quite transparent in your jealousy.
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