Barack Obama
March 27, 2009 by Jerry
In January and March, I wrote about President Obama’s artful use of the word “you,” the most persuasive word in the language—according to a purported Yale University study. Purported or not, “you” is an essential element in any communication, because it implies the “co-” in “communication,” the two-way exchange that is necessary for results to take place. Those earlier posts traced the president’s use of “you” throughout his campaign, in his Inaugural Address, and in his first address to congress. Yesterday, in his first ever (for any president) internet town hall meeting, Barack Obama was back at it. He kicked
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March 25, 2009 by Jerry
Last night, President Obama held his second prime time press conference. One of the first media reactions came from John King, CNN’s Chief National Correspondent, who said, “He spoke for 50 minutes plus. The words ‘Iraq’ were never spoken. There are more than 140,000 troops there; the war hit the six-year anniversary this week. He never mentioned the word ‘Afghanistan.’ There are thousands of U.S. troops there. He never mentioned Osama bin Laden. He never mentioned terrorism. You want to talk about a sea change from George W. Bush to Barack Obama.” King was referring to Bush’s repeated use of
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March 12, 2009 by Jerry
In last month’s post “Obama Gets Drama,” I wrote about our new president’s first departure from his “No Drama Obama” nickname, the epithet he had earned for his uncanny ability to stay calm and collected during the very rough and tumble election campaign. The departure came when he showed his frustration during an impromptu speech to House Democrats after his economic stimulus package had run into the initial heavy Republican opposition. There was actually an earlier incident in which Obama let his emotions show, and it came the day after his soaring Inaugural Address. Vice President Joe Biden was about
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March 10, 2009 by Jerry
Last week was Teleprompter Week. It began with a continuation of the wave of negative reviews, including mine, of Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s disastrous “teleprompted” speech. If I may be immodest for a moment, only mine focused on how the use of a single teleprompter unit contributed to Jindal’s forced speaking style. The teleprompter story then shifted from Jindal to Obama with comprehensive pieces by Peter Baker of the New York Times, Carol E. Lee, a White House reporter of Politico.com, and Dan Spencer of Examiner.com. Baker and Lee gave balanced and through reports, but Spencer, a self-proclaimed “Right Side
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March 5, 2009 by Jerry
In my previous post, “Obama & You,” I described how, during his pursuit of the presidency, Barack Obama, in order to involve his potential voters, consciously shifted from speaking about himself to speaking about his audiences, the electorate. Shifting from “I” to “you” or its variation, “your,” he deployed the word extensively on his website, in his campaign materials, and especially, throughout his speeches. Tracking Obama’s word usage from candidate to president demonstrates a further shift in his focus. In his historic Inaugural Address, he used “you” only 15 times, but said “us,” 23 times, “we” 62 times, and “our”
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March 4, 2009 by Jerry
With the nation reeling from a deepening recession, Barack Obama’s task in his first speech to a joint session of Congress was very much like that of a rookie football coach giving a half-time pep talk to a team trailing by a wide margin. The political pundits equated Obama’s challenge to that of Sir Winston Churchill addressing his nation enduring the heavy bombardment by the German Wehrmacht, or of Franklin D. Roosevelt addressing his nation mired in a depression, or even of George W. Bush addressing his nation devastated by the 9/ll attacks. Each of those leaders delivered a powerful
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February 11, 2009 by Jerry
Our new president’s first press conference got two thumbs down from the press. Alessandra Stanley, who regularly reviews television for the New York Times, and Walter Shapiro, who has covered the last eight presidential elections, found the president long-winded. Ms. Stanley wrote, “Mr. Obama’s locutions are steady, fluent and often very long. On Monday night, even his fiercest warnings about the perilous state of the economy were bracketed by professorial disquisitions.” In The New Republic, Shapiro wrote that, with his “lengthy soliloquies…Obama radiated the sense of a leader who has digested too many economic briefings and memorized too many talking
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February 9, 2009 by Jerry
During his quest for the presidency, Barack Obama was nicknamed “No Drama Obama” for his ability to stay calm and collected through the rigors of what was a very rough and tumble campaign. Not only did he consistently present himself as composed in public, he also mandated that all of his teams inside their headquarters exhibit the same self-control. Last week, Obama got drama. With his economic stimulus package running into heavy Republican opposition, he let his frustration show during an impromptu speech to House Democrats at a retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia. Politico.com devoted three articles to the change of
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February 4, 2009 by Jerry
Yesterday’s post “A Lesson from Blagojevich” centered on one of the basic ground rules of handling tough questions: you must answer the question. The now-removed Governor of Illinois was asked the same question four times by Larry King, and each time Blagojevich danced away from an answer to positive point: a classic example of political spin. Last night, Barack Obama was interviewed by Anderson Cooper on CNN about the Tom Daschle affair. The newsman queried the president, “You messed up?” Without a moment’s hesitation, Obama replied, “Yes, I think I made a mistake,” and then immediately added, “I take
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January 30, 2009 by Jerry
In 2006, Time picked as the Person of the Year, “You,” and published that issue with a patch of Mylar on the cover as a mirror for the readers. The magazine was focused on the personal power enabled by the World Wide Web, but it also drew attention to the power of the word, “you.” If you search the WWW, you’ll find tens of thousands of references to a Yale University study (unsubstantiated by Yale) ranking the 12 most persuasive words in the English language. “You” leads the list. Unsubstantiated or not, Barack Obama fully appreciates the power of “you.”
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