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What Makes Obama a Good Speaker?
The New York Observer ^ | February 15, 2008 | Alvin Chang

Posted on 02/16/2008 6:37:19 AM PST by vietvet67

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To: raybbr
However, now the illegals have taken up the cry in spanish.

Actually, it was the battle cry for Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers way back in 1972. As soon as I heard Obama chant, "Yes, we can", I knew he had just translated it from "Si, se puede".

41 posted on 02/16/2008 7:26:54 AM PST by Inspectorette
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To: vietvet67

Good speaker that says nothing.

It’s not his voice, it’s the constant motion of his hands...
he’s either hypnotizing or casting a spell!!!!!!!!!!


42 posted on 02/16/2008 7:28:08 AM PST by FES0844 (FES0844)
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To: JaneNC

“”He fumbles and hims and haws all the time.

He is not a good speaker.”

His speaking irritates me no end because he does exactly as you say - he pauses, he hesitates. I have to say that someone has been working on him as he’s gotten better compared to 6 months ago but still irritating to listen to. I’m not buying the “great orator” that the MSM is peddling.


43 posted on 02/16/2008 7:35:22 AM PST by Thank You Rush
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To: vietvet67

If Obama weren’t a politician by trade he would be selling sleazy get rich real estate schemes on TV between the hours of 0200-0500 everyday. He’s the Billy Mays of campaigning.


44 posted on 02/16/2008 7:36:07 AM PST by TADSLOS ( McCain tears the Constitution down. His son defends it. The irony is thick.)
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To: vietvet67

The true mark of a good speaker is one who can deliver an impassioned or thoughtful speech extemporaneously. Obambi speaks well when he has the teleprompter or if he stays on script with soundbites. Aside from that, he’s a poor speaker.


45 posted on 02/16/2008 7:37:43 AM PST by ought-six
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To: Apparatchik
It’s the timbre of his voice, his quasi-impersonation of Martin Luther King Jr. - whom we are taught/conditioned to revere, but this is because of the ideals King expressed. Obama is using a bit of trickery to conjure up those images of King and Kennedy to fool people into thinking he, too, has ideas of merit. Far better for people to read his speeches and judge them for their content.

Absolutely spot on. That's why I no longer dismiss him as an empty suit. IMHO, this illusion is no more a singular function of Obama's "charisma" than David Copperfield's feats are solely a product of talent. I'm less concerned about Obama's current stage crew than I am with the ones who conceived the illusion to begin with.

46 posted on 02/16/2008 7:44:35 AM PST by Eroteme
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To: vietvet67

He “sounds” relatively black for having been raised in a white family. Is he faking his “black” accent?


47 posted on 02/16/2008 7:48:39 AM PST by Theo (Global warming "scientists." Pro-evolution "scientists." They're both wrong.)
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To: ought-six
Unfortunately, He doesn't need to give a good speech off the cuff.

He running against McCain, who is instinctively repugnant to 90 percent of the population.

Old, pushy, and arrogant, with a solid reputation for backstabbing. Like a brown nosing kid who rats out on his friends to get the pat on the head and gain favor. Repugnant.

48 posted on 02/16/2008 7:54:47 AM PST by PA-RIVER
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To: sageb1
He’s not a good speaker. His voice is melodious and he is speaking to the short attention span crowd. Peace! Love! Blah! Blah! Blah!

It's all about who he is speaking to. His crowds remind me of WWE fans who show each week to chant along with their favorite wrestlers catch phrases. His speeches do nothing for me because I am not interested in any of his change. I understand all his change comes with a price, which is loss of freedom and higher taxes.

49 posted on 02/16/2008 7:55:43 AM PST by pepperhead (Kennedy's float, Mary Jo's don't!)
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To: Condor51
Your point is well taken. But, the difference between Douglas, Webster and politicians of today is the media environment in which we live.

Today, we never elect FDR because of his handicap. Today, style trumps substance. Today, Obama is seen as great communicator no matter what he says.

We all want “what” he says to matter, but right now it doesn’t. Hopefully, it will by election day.

As my own aside, all of this is compounded by the fact that President Bush often communicates very poorly, no matter how well his speeches are written. He would be measurably more well regarded if he had half the skill as his predecessor or Obama.

We may not like the fact that oratory seemingly trumps substance, but for the electorate writ large, it is beginning to do so.

50 posted on 02/16/2008 7:57:23 AM PST by shadowfighter
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To: vietvet67
Obama is a masterful orator, much like an evangelical black preacher. His speeches are full of utopian promises that his Presidency just can't cash.

Think about his keywords. Change. Heal the nation. Repair this world. Stop the divisiveness. Bring America together.

Does anyone think that change involves a swing to the right? Does anyone think that healing the nation and repairing this world involves anything other than apologizing to the enemy and sucking up to them? If we end the divisiveness, does anyone think that the left is going to change their positions and come over to our side? No.

The whole change/healing/repairing fantasy is that WE change our positions and come over to their side. And we're not going to do that.

Perhaps another great orator, Bill Clinton, had it right when he said that Obama was the "greatest fairy tale" he ever heard. Even a Clinton is right twice a day.

I enjoy hearing Obama speak, but he can't do what he says. He can, however, screw up this country with the willing aid of a Democratic Senate and House.

51 posted on 02/16/2008 7:58:13 AM PST by Sender (Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.)
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To: vietvet67
What makes Obama a good speaker?

The same thing that makes rubbish be called art.

52 posted on 02/16/2008 8:00:41 AM PST by fso301
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To: JaneNC

I agree and George Bush is the “worst president ever” because the MSM says he is. I even know Republicans who are beginning to believe it.


53 posted on 02/16/2008 8:02:25 AM PST by Ditter
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To: Theo

“He “sounds” relatively black for having been raised in a white family. Is he faking his “black” accent?”

Only to the extent necessary for the audience to visualize him being the second coming of MLK.


54 posted on 02/16/2008 8:15:55 AM PST by vietvet67
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To: vietvet67

It’s easy to be a good speaker when you are preaching to your own choir.


55 posted on 02/16/2008 8:17:42 AM PST by P8riot (I carry a gun because I can't carry a cop.)
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To: vietvet67

Sanjaya, anyone?


56 posted on 02/16/2008 8:33:38 AM PST by FReepapalooza (Look away, look away, look away Dixieland)
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To: octobersky

Rush was right.


57 posted on 02/16/2008 8:35:25 AM PST by BenLurkin
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To: vietvet67

Obama is as empty as the pop culture he appeals to. He knows his audience. But take heart. Once he is in the White House, his messiah routine won’t be enough. When unemployment hits 10 percent, interest rates and inflation go over 20 percent, and people are waiting in long lines to by gas on their appointed days, they will realize that Obama doesn’t have anything of value to say. Get ready.


58 posted on 02/16/2008 8:42:00 AM PST by pallis
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To: Apparatchik
In April it will be 40 years since King was assassinated. In November it will be 45 years since Kennedy was assassinated. Millions of Americans are now old enough to run for President who were born after King's death. Close to half the electorate was either born after their deaths or were too young in the 1960s to be paying attention, so they know about both figures largely from the reverential treatment they receive in schools and in the media.

Both MLK and JFK were inspirational speakers. There's nothing wrong with that if they are trying to inspire people to do good things. With JFK that may be his main positive legacy, inspiring people--otherwise he was a mediocre President whose weak foreign policy created a lot of problems for the future.

Obama may do some good if he moves the country away from the hyperpartisanship of recent years, but I'm not sure he really wants to. Rather he wants to be seen to want to. He'd be happy to leave 30 or 40% of the nation in the outer darkness as long as he himself was perceived as inclusive and rising above hatred.

Obama may be a bit like JFK in eloquence, but he may also be like him in his potential for screwing up foreign policy problems.

59 posted on 02/16/2008 8:45:04 AM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: vietvet67
“You can take a short phrase like that, spoken any kind of way as long as it’s not dragged out, and sing over it,” he said. “There’s also a certain amount of repetition..."

In other words...A CHANT.

CHANT–noun
1. a short, simple melody, esp. one characterized by single notes to which an indefinite number of syllables are intoned, used in singing psalms, canticles, etc., in church services.
2. a psalm, canticle, or the like, chanted or for chanting.
3. the singing or intoning of all or portions of a liturgical service.
4. any monotonous song.
5. a song; singing: the chant of a bird.
6. a monotonous intonation of the voice in speaking.
7. a phrase, slogan, or the like, repeated rhythmically and insistently, as by a crowd.

–verb (used with object)
8. to repeat (a phrase, slogan, etc.) rhythmically and insistently.

60 posted on 02/16/2008 8:47:09 AM PST by FrankR (Herds are for cattle, Groups are for democRATS, be an American, Be an individual)
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