However, now the illegals have taken up the cry in spanish.
Posted on 02/16/2008 6:37:19 AM PST by vietvet67
After studying the speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy, linguist Mark Liberman found that their speaking styles are “radically different.”
Then there’s Barack Obama.
His keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention instantly earned him a reputation as one of the Democratic Party’s great contemporary orators. And that reputation has only been further hyped since the beginning of the presidential campaign, most recently because of the wildly popular music video, “Yes We Can,” which set to music Obama’s primary night speech in New Hampshire. The video, created by Black Eyed Peas front man will.i.am, was released on Feb. 2 and has been viewed almost 10 million times on YouTube and yeswecansong.com.
Liberman, a linguistics professor at the University of Pennsylvania, thinks the most distinctive thing about Obama’s speeches isn’t the delivery, but the lyricism in the writing.
“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 — the ‘Yes We Can’ theme — that allows this kind of weaving of vocal lines. But if that’s right, then what’s really musical about that speech was not so much its delivery, but its composition. It was written like a song, but not performed like a song.”
Linguist Geoff Nunberg, too, sees elements of Obama’s speeches that he says lend themselves to song.
“He does these parallel constructions,” said Nunberg, a researcher at Stanford University’s Center for the Study of Language and Information. “For example, he says, ‘It’s not because of this, it’s not because of that.’”
(Excerpt) Read more at observer.com ...
I knew a gay man before he "came out" and he spoke like any other man. After "coming out of the closet," this man took it upon himself to put a little more gaydar-catching accent into his speech. I am sure Obama has done the same, trying to accentuate his blackness.
After all, he had no American black family until he married. He would have had to acquire any kind of an American black "flavor" to his voice to ease his affiliation.
He is a good reader. Take his telepromter and speech writers away and he is a disaster waiting to happen.
You are right. I saw a video of him singing “If I only had McCain”, sung to the tune of the Wizard of Oz’s “If I only had a brain” and his pitch was perfect. He has a great voice.
However, now the illegals have taken up the cry in spanish.
This technique is the same as what a lot of black preachers use when talking to their congregations. Martin Luther King used it all the time to include his speech on the Washington Mall. It’s all in voice inflection, timing and repitition. Another guy who was considered a great orator of his time was “Adolph Hitler”. Get Obama away from his speeches, he’s an empty suit.
Pie in the sky hyperbole.
He’s not only going to change America, (whatever that means) he’s going to change the world.
You and I might think alike. He is like the anti-Christ.
All of the sudden he slithers out from under and rock and here he is. I had never heard of him till this election process started.
2 1/2 minute talks in Sunday school copied from someone else or the Ensign. God forbid an original thought.
It's not what you say, it's how you say it that matters.
Oh if I could just give you my Fisher Beer speech!
Liberman, a linguistics professor at the University of Pennsylvania, thinks the most distinctive thing about Obama’s speeches isn’t the delivery, but the lyricism in the writing.
Okay, so then Obama's 'day job' should be that of a Song Writer (aka Lyricist). Isn't that about it?
An aside, Stephen A. Douglas was a 'good speaker' too but that didn't help him against Abe Lincoln, did it. And Daniel Webster was no slouch - 'greatest orator of his time' - but I can't recall a 'President Webster' either.
Unfortunately, there is some disagreement about this.
http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2006/04/need_a_laugh_se.html
It’s not the “Audacity of Hope”, it’s the opacity of dope.
A good speaker was a also a failed president (WJC).
Empty suit meets empty brains.
I will stick to my theory.
hE DOESN’T SOUND LIKE fINGERNAILS ON A bLACKBOARD!
You have to “give” yourself to him emotionally for his speech to work. Obama is also giving himself to the audience, stroking them emotionally.
He has found a way for democrats to have emotional orgasms.
Similar to Elvis on stage, stroking the fantasies of women longing for romance, and men wishing they had his role on the stage.
Obama is NOT a good speaker. His method is to take highly scripted statements and add ‘inspirational’ inflection. But he has no real rhythm and he is incapable of thinking on his feet with the same inflection. He’s an oratory fraud.
If you want to hear a great speaker listen to Christopher Hitchens.
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