Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Obama Has Lost His Speaking Mojo
USNews.com ^ | May 7, 2012 | Kira Zalan

Posted on 05/09/2012 6:34:51 AM PDT by ConservativeStatement

Barack Obama's oratory skills may have helped him win the White House in 2008, but his speaking prowess could be a liability in this year's presidential election, says Sam Leith, author of Words Like Loaded Pistols: Rhetoric From Aristotle to Obama. Rhetoric is central to democracy, says Leith. "You win elections by talking to people, by trying to persuade them, not only on what you're going to do, but that you're trustworthy." And, he says, Obama talked his way into the Oval Office with "amazing speeches" that invoked Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr., and he even beat out the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. "He just spoke better than everybody else," says the former literary editor of the Daily Telegraph.[See a collection of political cartoons on Mitt Romney.]

(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: mojo; obama; obamatruthfile; speaking; uuuuuhh
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-87 next last
To: ConservativeStatement

The white-dominated MSM thinks any black man who can read is a national hero.

Since most of the people in the media don’t hang out with military folks, they don’t know that there are lots of black people who read great, and do a lot more besides.

Nothing against accomplished black people in other areas of life. I’m speaking from personal experience here.


41 posted on 05/09/2012 7:13:11 AM PDT by Steely Tom (If the Constitution can be a living document, I guess a corporation can be a person.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WellyP

—H was never a great speaker..he was a great READER!—
I didn’t even think he was a great reader. I am embarrassed for him every time I see video of him speaking.


42 posted on 05/09/2012 7:15:43 AM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: cuban leaf

“I was elected to read, not to lead.”


43 posted on 05/09/2012 7:16:13 AM PDT by dfwgator (Don't wake up in a roadside ditch. Get rid of Romney.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeStatement

He has SOMETHING. The first time I heard him speak, he was debating Alan Keyes, and he WON the debate by reciting platitudes, but in a confident, authoritative, and hypnotic way.

I thought, “oh crap, he’s going to be hard to beat.”

He has a natural, preternatural, or demonic “gift.” My opinion varies.


44 posted on 05/09/2012 7:16:44 AM PDT by St_Thomas_Aquinas (Viva Christo Rey!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeStatement

obama was asked about this and he replied, err, ahh, uhh, ehh, ahhh, uhhhh, Ize disagrees wid dat yo.


45 posted on 05/09/2012 7:20:42 AM PDT by biggredd1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: thethirddegree
Take away the teleprompters and old purple lips couldn’t string two sentences together.

Sure he can. I love it when he says what he really thinks:

"I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

"Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it."

"You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest . . . and it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them."

Those and many more came when he allegedly had his mojo. The truth is that Obama has a reputation as a speaker only because no one dares to question or criticize him.

46 posted on 05/09/2012 7:21:48 AM PDT by Pollster1 (Can we afford as much government as welfare-addicted voters demand?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeStatement

He sounds like any FGD liar. His voice to me is associated with slime, corruption, and graft. Otherwise he’s a great speaker.


47 posted on 05/09/2012 7:26:02 AM PDT by jimfree (In Nov 2012 my 11 y/o granddaughter will have more relevant executive experience than Barack Obama)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeStatement
Doesn't his "I'm going to roll up my sleeves" trick work on the feeble minded liberals and Democrats anymore? He says it at every speech and then rolls up his sleeves.


48 posted on 05/09/2012 7:26:36 AM PDT by CodeToad
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Steely Tom
The white-dominated MSM thinks any black man who can read is a national hero.

Just ask Joe Biden: "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."

49 posted on 05/09/2012 7:27:22 AM PDT by Pollster1 (Can we afford as much government as welfare-addicted voters demand?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: treetopsandroofs

—Would be interesting to see the text of that teleprompter segment—

I agree. I’ve heard of intentional misspellings to ensure the president says the correct thing. An example would be spelling it “coreman” on the teleprompter.

It’s very effective, actually.


50 posted on 05/09/2012 7:27:22 AM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeStatement

“Obama Has Lost His Speaking Mojo”

As they say in the Internet business, Content is King.

Obama’s vapidity is his biggest electability problem at all points on the political spectrum.


51 posted on 05/09/2012 7:28:35 AM PDT by Jagermonster (TANSTAAFL)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeStatement
Obama Has Lost His Speaking Mojo

You can only tell so many lies, before even the dullest of dims begins to wise up.

52 posted on 05/09/2012 7:38:27 AM PDT by The Sons of Liberty (Sworn to Defend The Constitution Against ALL Enemies, Foreign and Domestic. So Help Me GOD!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeStatement

That is one scary photograph. Where have we seen those expressions before?

Nuremberg?

Jonestown?


53 posted on 05/09/2012 7:41:43 AM PDT by henkster (Wanted: Politicians willing to say "No" to people. No experience required.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeStatement

*** Obama talked his way into the Oval Office with “amazing speeches” that invoked Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr.***

Kind of like Professor HAROLD HILL! Convinced the people of River City that they had a band until Shirley Jones says, “What Band!”

It broke the spell and the people realized that the Professor was a SPELL BINDER!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056262/

Then he bound them again!


54 posted on 05/09/2012 7:44:02 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MisterArtery

Freudian slip? He’s not a fan of the military.


55 posted on 05/09/2012 7:49:34 AM PDT by GBA (Isaiah 9:10)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Pollster1
Just ask Joe Biden: "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."

Then Joe said "I mean, that's a story-book, man."

So even Biden realizes that King Barry is a work of fiction.

56 posted on 05/09/2012 7:53:23 AM PDT by Fresh Wind ('People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook.' Richard M. Nixon)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeStatement

He sounds really uncomfortable when he tries to speak about numbers, as if they are a foreign language and he really has no idea of what he is saying conceptually.


57 posted on 05/09/2012 7:57:16 AM PDT by Anima Mundi (ENVY IS JUST PASSIVE, LAZY GREED)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fresh Wind

Obama has a “Negro dialect” when he wants to (according to Harry Reid). If you notice, when he gets a crowd fired up, he’s always slips into that dialect.

I call that his shuck and jive mode. If I were in his audience, I would be offended if spoke down to me like that.

58 posted on 05/09/2012 7:59:35 AM PDT by Jess79
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: WellyP
He was never a great speaker..he was a great READER!

I never believed Obama to be a great speaker in 2008. As you say, he read speeches well enough. But his speeches were nothing but fluff, and completely avoided his nasty socialist ideals with the BS "hope and change."

Otherwise, It became a sort of mass delusion. The media created the narrative that Obama was a great speaker. The cliche stuck. Opponents like John McCain, who felt they had to treat Obama with kid gloves, glommed onto that cliche as a way to praise him without mentioning his race or policies. Stupidity all around.

59 posted on 05/09/2012 8:00:59 AM PDT by PGR88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: PGR88
It became a sort of mass delusion

Well said, and a perfect characterization.

When you have 99% cheerleading from the MSM it's difficult to look bad, but I think Baraq has done it lately.

60 posted on 05/09/2012 8:03:07 AM PDT by nascarnation
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-87 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson