State of the Union registers at 8th grade reading level

politico ^ | 1/25/12 | BYRON TAU

[Skeez]

President Obama's 2012 State of the Union address again rated at an 8th grade comprehension level, on the Flesch-Kincaid readability test — the third lowest score of any State of the Union address since 1934.

The University of Minnesota's Smart Politics conducted an analysis on the last 70 State of the Union addresses and found that President Obama's three addresses have the lowest grade average of any modern president. "Obama's average grade-level score of 8.4 is more than two grades lower than the 10.7 grade average for the other 67 addresses written by his 12 predecessors," they conclude.

"The Flesch-Kincaid test is designed to assess the readability level of written text, with a formula that translates the score to a U.S. grade level. Longer sentences and sentences utilizing words with more syllables produce higher scores. Shorter sentences and sentences incorporating more monosyllabic words yield lower scores," the University of Minnesota's Eric Ostermeier explains.

Obama's use of simple language is in part a reflection of his audience: the American voter in an election year. And it's part of a larger trend in simpler State of the Union language as the speech as transitioned from a simple address to Congress into a prime-time televised event.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Consultants to the newspaper business (when it was a viable business) used to advise editors not to write their papers at anything over the 6th. grade level. To do so in their view would be going over the heads of their audience.

The New York Times is supposedly written at an 8th. grade level, and for that they pound their chests and crow about their literary prowess.

For the audience that Obama was trying to reach, “Pat the Bunny” might have been more appropriate.

[Xyz22]

Ok, so he wrote this speech, but did he write this e-mail sent right before his speech?

I’m heading to Capitol Hill soon to deliver my third State of the Union address.

Before I go, I want to say thanks for everything you’re doing.

Tonight, we set the tone for the year ahead. I’m going to lay out in concrete terms the path we need to take as a country if we want an economy that works for everyone and rewards hard work and responsibility.

I’m glad to know you’ll be standing with me up there.

Barack

—–

Support President Obama. Make a donation today.

[norwaypinesavage]

Of course it had to be that low. It couldn't have any complicated words, such as “Navy Corpsman”, that Obama would be unable to read or comprehend.

[Matchett-PI]

bttt

Rev. James “Obama is a Mack Daddy” Manning’s Take on the State of the Union Address (He’s for Gingrich)

Hilarious! MUST SEE VIDEO: http://hillbuzz.org/must-see-rev-james-mannings-take-on-the-state-of-the-union-address-43724

[Xyz22]

Sorry—I posted too soon. To add— has any other president, ever, sent out a campaign e-mail before a SOTU speech!? This is beyond disgusting.

[mrsmith]

Way over the heads of his followers.

But that just lets the media do it’s job of interpreting it to mean whatever his followers desire.

[Norseman]

I don’t know if others have noticed this, but Obama’s speaking voice has been changing over the years.

The first time I ever heard him speak (around 2003/04), and heard his deep voice tones and overall quality of his voice, I figured we were in trouble. It was just a great speaking voice.

Lately, however, he’s become what I guess I would call, strident. Not so much whiny (though it wouldn’t be hard to get to whiny from where he’s at now) but strident, insistent, more high-pitched, like, well, like someone not getting his way anymore.

It’s like he knows he can’t relax and bask in the glories of his accomplishments, but rather, that he’s beginning to realize his time to change the country is short, and that there’s a chance everything he’s tried to do, or has already done, might soon be undone.

So, if the current progression continues, I hope he’s whining like a baby in 2013/14 as he watches everything he worked for get reversed by a Republican House, Senate, President, and eventually, a conservative Supreme Court.

[dfwgator]

Even President Camacho would have had a higher level than Obama:

S---. I know s---'s bad right now, with all that starving bulls---, and the dust storms, and we are running out of french fries and burrito coverings. But I got a solution.

[kevao]

Wasn’t GWB ridiculed for having low-grade averages in his speeches? And so now it’s a virtue. Who knew?

[The_Media_never_lie]

The SOTU must have sounded pretty dang good to a moran.

[CitizenM]

Whenever Obama gives a speech he continually uses the incorrect, lazy expressions of: "I'm gonna" as opposed to saying "I am going to," and "We gotta," as opposed to "We have to." And worse, he often says "they've Got,' - who says they have got but someone who, even with a teleprompter, can't speak English properly? I cringe each time. When I was in school our English teachers would have slapped our hands for speaking as Obama does. (But, I guess being in Indonesian schools, learning to speak proper English was not important. Didn't his mom "learn him nothin?" LOL ) This is a Harvard graduate?

So, I am surprised that his SOTU speech even scored at the eighth grade level. He destroys our language and talks like an uneducated six-year-old.

[BerryDingle]

He doesn’t have a clue what’s on those teleprompters when he appears. Two parts of this speech were given before.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Statement: "State of the Union registers at 8th grade reading level"

Reponse: No surprise here.

[chris_bdba]

Well he is talking to his supporters and they are none too smart no matter what they tell each other....

[ABN 505]

I always get a kick out of Mussolini profile when he juts his jaw out. And they say Reagan was an actor!

[OddLane]

LOL.

A great comedy-and unfortunately, probably a portent of our future as a country.