George Will has been criticizing Barack Obama because Obama is narcissistic–he has been using the words “I” too much in his speeches.
So then blogger Mark Liberman compared Obama’s speeches with those of George W. Bush . . .
President Obama is going to give the nation’s kids a pep talk to work hard in school. According to conservatives, this is a terrible thing.
Obama gave a terrific speech (here’s the video). In the first ten minutes, he detailed the many connections between Islam and the United States (yes, Rep. Keith Ellison did take his oath of office using a Koran once owned by Thomas Jefferson).
The first condition for progress of any type is to plainly state where we are, and Obama’s speech did a great job of this. Yes, our many misunderstandings, driven by irresponsible media frenzy, occlude plain facts, several of them highly embarrassing to the U.S. For instance,
For many years, Iran has defined itself in part by its opposition to my country, and there is in fact a tumultuous history between us. In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government.
That, then, is how we can repair the damage: by establishing trust by stating the facts. Only after speaking frankly can tone matter. Obama’s tone was impressive, based on the many applause interruptions.
But good tone is nothing without admitting undeniable facts. Only then can we move forward. By traveling to Cairo to make his speech, Obama has made a dramatic statement that America is no longer framing its diplomatic strategies through the use of crude stereotypes. I don’t know whether the audience entirely trusts America, but this was a huge step in the right direction.
Liz Coleman, the President of Bennington College, has some terrific ideas about reforming liberal arts education. She presented them at TED in February 2009.
Many people will never appreciate Coleman’s ideas, however, because she presented them in a long paper filled with redundant and sesquipedalian (!*) terms. To top it off, she chose to read her speech in monotone rather than speaking from her heart. Coleman’s decision to read her speech rather than presenting it with spontaneous enthusiasm undercuts the very message of her paper. She violated a basic rule of speech-making: Don’t bore your audience with good content deficiently presented.
Why can’t the highly educated C0leman see this conspicuous problem with her own delivery? Why can’t she understand that many people (even the smart sorts of people who attend TED lectures, have lots of trouble paying attention to liberal arts college presidents who read pedantic speeches? For starters, she needs to keep in mind that the Internet audience is not a captive audience motivated by the pursuit of grades.
Yes, ordinary Americans need to become more disciplined at being attentive audiences. They need to learn to persevere when difficult ideas are presented, even when those ideas aren’t sugar-coated. On the other hand, academics (Coleman is one example of many) really need to get out of their ivory towers and learn to talk to real people without sounding condescending.
One suggestion: Coleman should study Barack Obama, who often knows his material well enough to talk off-the-cuff. He has also learned to present pre-written presentations in a fresh, spontaneous-sounding way. I’m not suggesting that everyone can deliver ideas like Obama, but all us can take the time study the various techniques he often uses.
Before getting to work studying her new technique, Coleman should carefully watch her TED presentation and ask herself whether her delivery would even keep her own interest. She should ask what so many academics should ask: was her speech designed primarily to move her audience or was it (perhaps subconsciously) designed to show off her own vocabulary and intellectual superiority, amply laced with uppity intonation? If there is even an unintentional hint of these, she’s lost her audience.
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*sesquipedalian
1. given to using long words.
2. (of a word) containing many syllables.
What’s a good alternative to constantly rattling our swords and threatening Iran? Talking to Iran. Opening up a dialogue. Making it clear that there is an alternative to needless, destructive counter-productive and expensive war. Allowing Iran to save face by making sure that it is our country that takes the first step to a constructive relationship. This video illustrates one of the main reasons why I voted for Barack Obama.
Barack Obama has quite a knack for addressing deep themes with his surface eloquence. What are those deep themes? Linguist George Lakoff has taken the time to set them out in a recent Huffpo article, and I think he’s thought it through impressively. Lakoff’s article is well worth a slow read. What is Obama really about?
Behind the Obama Code are seven crucial intellectual moves that I believe are historically, practically, and cognitively appropriate, as well as politically astute. They are not all obvious, and jointly they may seem mysterious. That is why it is worth sorting them out one-by-one.
Note that for Lakoff (and Obama), “progressive values” (#2) are the natural result of genuine and uncorrupted empathy:
Those empathy-based moral values are the opposite of the conservative focus on individual responsibility without social responsibility. They make it intolerable to tolerate a president who is The Decider–who gets to decide without caring about or listening to anybody. Empathy-based values are opposed to the pure self-interest of a laissez-faire “free market,” which assumes that greed is good and that seeking self-interest will magically maximize everyone’s interests. They oppose a purely self-interested view of America in foreign policy. Obama’s foreign policy is empathy-based, concerned with people as well as states–with poverty, education, disease, water, the rights of women and children, ethnic cleansing, and so on around the world.
Here are Lakoff’s seven insights into the ideas that drive Obama’s spoken words:
1. Values Over Programs
2. Progressive Values are American Values
3. Biconceptualism and the New Bipartisanship
4. Protection and Empowerment
5. Morality and Economics Fit Together
6. Systemic Causation and Systemic Risk
7. Contested Concepts and Patriotic Language
What was on the mind of George W. Bush eight years ago? This NYT article describes the 2001 inauguration:
George Walker Bush was sworn in as the 43rd president of the United States today and, in an Inaugural Address that sought to unify the nation after one of the most disputed elections in its history, asked [...]
Representative Keith Ellison is one of my heroes. Before a big crowd in Minneapolis in June, 2008, Ellison delivered a passionate speech on the importance of having a media that truly informs the People. I agree whole-heartedly with his statement that the People will do the right things, but only as long as they are [...]
Here’s a standard account of autism, from Wikipedia:
Autism is a brain development disorder that first gives signs during infancy or childhood and generally follows a steady course without remission or relapse. Impairments result from maturation-related changes in various systems of the brain. Autism is one of the five pervasive developmental disorders (PDD), which are characterized [...]
It’s difficult to watch hecklers, even when you agree with them. On a superficial level they are rude. By interrupting formal speeches they are preventing the officially designated speaker from delivering his or her message.
But what alternatives do we have when modern-day powerful politicians carefully exclude people who disagree with the speaker? Here’s the modern [...]
Speaking to the congregation at Apostolic Church of God in Chicago, Barack Obama gave a speech critical of absent black fathers on Father’s Day. He urged the largely African American congregation:
to remember their filial responsibilities and be more engaged in raising their children. Obama reminded the congregation of his own experience growing up without a [...]
Barack Obama has challenged Americans to rise above trite cartoonish conceptions of race.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWe7wTVbLUU[/youtube]
The full text of Obama’s thought-provoking and impassioned speech can be read here.
Are Americans ready for a candidate who dares to challenge them? Are they ready for a candidate who speaks comfortably of the complexities of race as he has previously [...]
Obama’s full speech is here. What follows is a long excerpt from this October 2, 2002 speech:
Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international [...]
