Posted on 01/25/2012 7:55:46 AM PST by 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.
Either he wrote it himself, or it was dumbed down because that is his base
Obama knows his audience.
How else would the democrat base understand the speech?
Either he wrote it himself, or it was dumbed down because that is his base
Well on Fox they did say Obama wrote the speech
So, most progressives will be able to understand the words. But not the substance.
Wonder who wrote it for him?
Pray for America
I am surprised it scored that high.
So he was talking over the heads of most liberals.
Well Duh!....there’s a shock!...He acts like he’s talking down to group of eight year olds whenever he talks to the nation. That’s just another reason I could not stand listening to him from the start!
It’s all just part of the radical left’s dumbing down of America agenda.
It sounded more like a high school pep rally.
And that is STILL a few grade levels over his main constituency. Oh well, no worries, since they don’t need to be convinced to vote for him again anyway....
Obama 2010: “It’s time for colleges and universities to get serious about cutting their own costs.
Obama 2012: “Colleges and universities have to do their part by working to keep costs down.”
***
Obama 2010: “And we should continue the work by fixing our broken immigration system.”
Obama 2011: “I strongly believe that we should take on, once and for all, the issue of illegal immigration.”
Obama 2012: “I believe as strongly as ever that we should take on illegal immigration.”
***
Obama 2010: “We face a deficit of trust.”
Obama 2012: “I’ve talked tonight about the deficit of trust . . .”
***
Obama 2010: “We can’t wage a perpetual campaign.”
Obama 2012: “We need to end the notion that the two parties must be locked in a perpetual campaign.”
If you are a “respectable conservative” you are not supposed to notice that half the D voters have IQs below 90 and cannot really have graduated from high school.
It’s too bad this administration cannot employ the mathematical skill of an eight grader. Then could finally understand why their economic policies do not work.
I don’t believe his democrat base - at lest those with no greater than an 8th grade vocabulary - would even be watching the SOTU. Lowest-commom-denominator public speaking has always bugged the hell out of me.
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.