Obama Has Lost His Speaking Mojo

USNews.com ^ | May 7, 2012 | Kira Zalan

[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.]

[Steely Tom]

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.

[cuban leaf]

—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.

[dfwgator]

“I was elected to read, not to lead.”

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

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.

[biggredd1]

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

[Pollster1]

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.

[jimfree]

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

[CodeToad]

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.

[Pollster1]

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."

[cuban leaf]

—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.

[Jagermonster]

“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.

[The Sons of Liberty]

Obama Has Lost His Speaking Mojo

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

[henkster]

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

Nuremberg?

Jonestown?

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

*** 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!

[GBA]

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

[Fresh Wind]

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.

[Anima Mundi]

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.

[Jess79]

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.

[PGR88]

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.

[nascarnation]

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.