Obama's annoying speaking style

[Richard D]

Obama's Use of Complete Sentences Stirs Controversy

Stunning Break with Last Eight Years
In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.

Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama's appearance on CBS' "Sixty Minutes" on Sunday witnessed the president-elect's unorthodox verbal tick, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.

But Mr. Obama's decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.

According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it "alienating" to have a President who speaks English as if it were his first language.

"Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement," says Mr. Logsdon. "If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist."

The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, "Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate - we get it, stop showing off."

The President-elect's stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

"Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can't really do there, I think needing to do that isn't tapping into what Americans are needing also," she said.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. I was about to freak out on you!

LOL!

[still_one]

2. What are.......

[Swamp Rat]

3. LOL!

:rofl:

[livvy]

4. Off-topic, but I love this!

You are so damn clever!

:rofl: Does she have the perfect face for the Energizer Bunny or what? Perfect, doggonit!

[TWiley]

5. He uses the word "and" a lot

[Laurab]

9. and? nt

[TWiley]

12. and, it is simply one of his speech patterns.

did you ever notice it?

[Posteritatis]

14. It comes with multi-clause sentences

Another thing we'll have to struggle to get used to coming out of the White House..

[goforit]

6. The reality of an ignorant society .....Grow up America!!!

[livvy]

7. Ha! Good one.

It is so refreshing to actually understand what he is talking about. Listening to the lying weasel always made me feel like I was slightly insane. And Palin...keeeee-riste...I can't understand what she means, no matter if I read it or hear it. Most definitely head-scrambling stuff.

[bertman]

8. Who knows, maybe more Americans will be influenced to speak in complete, grammatically

correct sentences that are not overloaded with "I mean", "you know", "like", "actually", and "ya know what I'm sayin'".

"Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement." Now there's a radical concept.

[lib_wit_it]

15. Well, I do find he does say "Y'know" too much, but I can live with that, especially after Bush and

compared to the great majority of public speakers out there. As the OP noted, everything else is so beautifully coherent and correct.

[Metta]

10. So, Sarah Pallid is the baseline for what Americans need? Clear speech reflects clear thinking.

We shouldn't dumb down just because she/they are ill educated. If it bothers them, who has the problem? And, there *is* a simple solution.

[Gregorian]

11. The kind of guy I'd like to drink an espresso with.

I just realized what it is about people who want to have a beer with bush. And I apologize for the generalization. After all, I used to drink.

[Vinca]

13. ROFL!

[sknabt]

16. Obama's definitely the slickster

Not only does Obama have the audacity to speak in complete sentences, I bet the man lacks the guts (no pun intended) to pardon a Thanksgiving turkey at a processing plant where they're getting slaughtered in the background. ;)

[kath]

17. Looks like that piece came from The Borowitz Report:

http://www.borowitzreport.com/article.aspx?ID=6961

[Richard D]

18. It's in a lot of places.

Difficult to track down where it started.

[kath]

19. Well, it's just nice to give credit where credit is due, otherwise people think that

*you* wrote the piece. In this situation, it was not at all difficult to track down who the author was. Took about half a minute.