dagblog - Comments for "Obama's speech impediments tonight. "

For the record, Flavius'

Oxy Mora — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 12:18:29 +0000

In reply to Obama's speech impediments tonight.

For the record, Flavius' comment on the DNC open thread exactly expresses my own reaction to Obama's speech. He did what he had to do.

In terms of my rank speculations above, Obama did in fact ask for help, as FDR and Truman had, and I thought it was very effective. And Obama must have used the word "you" twenty times or more. One line in the speech did move me, the quote from Lincoln---humility, burden of the office, the final decision maker, doing what's right takes time.

As to whether the speech will move the polls, I'm not expecting much immediate effect.

More than moving the polls in the immediate aftermath, I think the speeches and the convention writ large were all geared to setting up the "values" arguments in the debates. Romney has locked himself into a rich person's world view. "Values inform policy" will become an underpinning of the debates.

The jobs report comes out shortly. In my opinion anything over 125 K will be neutral in the polls. Over 150 K will move the polls. Something near 200 K will guarantee Obama's re-election.

Clinton is not Obama. Obama

Elusive Trope — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 01:50:26 +0000

In reply to Obama's speech impediments tonight.

Clinton is not Obama. Obama is not Clinton. The mistake is to believe there is only one way for a politician to resonate with a voter. Clinton is a good-ole-boy, and has in some twist of brilliance turned it into an ability to touch the voter. Obama touches in a different way. He is a cool intellectual - which is not a death knell for most politicians. But if Obama embraces as he has since his 2004 DNC speech he will be fine. In spite of the American anti-intellectualism, there is for most people a gravitation to those who are wise and humane. The humane facet so important.

I can't wait to read what

tmccarthy0 — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 18:33:56 +0000

In reply to When Clinton talks, he's

I can't wait to read what lil' destor has to say tonight..

I think the speech will be great, I hope and I hope I get home in time to see it!

What great comments. Thanks,

Oxy Mora — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 16:54:29 +0000

In reply to When Clinton talks, he's

What great comments. Thanks, Destor.

When Clinton talks, he's

Michael Maiello — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 16:49:26 +0000

In reply to Obama's speech impediments tonight.

When Clinton talks, he's selling. He accepts that his job is to win you over, to convince and ultimately, to close the deal. Right now, when people are hurting and skeptical, they need to be convinced. Clinton dealt with a big problem for Obama. He dealt with: "I know you're not feeling the recovery yet, but here's why you should believe that you will." I think of Clinton less as a preacher than as an excellent salesperson who really believes in his product. But, maybe those two roles are more similar than not.

Obama doesn't sell. He doesn't like it. He's a professor and he's a manager and an organizer not just of people or communities but of complex systems. Clinton says, "let me tell you why you need high speed rail between Tampa and Miami and how I'm going to give it to you." Obama says, "Plans to build the train were drawn up years ago, we're doing this, see you tomorrow at 6 and we'll get to work."

I think this is why Obama has a hard time bargaining. He tries to circumvent the whole process by giving the other side some of what they have, in the past, demanded, right away.

The thing is, neither approach works well with Republicans because they are always out to undermine the Democrat. Everything else secondary. They can't be charmed and they can't be directed.

But voters aren't like that. They can be charmed and persuaded. With Obama, they want to be charmed and persuaded. Obama still has a lot of personal good will with the country. People still feel good for voting for him. They like his story. They believe in his best intentions. So now it's all a matter of tone.

Is he Al Gore, the scholar or Bill Clinton the salesman? Hopefully, tonight he shows us something else.

As a friend of mind is fond

Oxy Mora — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 15:26:16 +0000

In reply to Yes, arithmetic although much

As a friend of mind is fond of saying, Big Dog "got after it" last night. I really am nervous about Obama's speech,---please make it brief and try not to cover ground Clinton has already done better.

I realize that there are much headier themes among the potential comparisons along the lines of this post. One would be, has Obama, all the while, labored in the shadow of Clinton's success---as Truman labored under the legacy of FDR. And is what we are talking about a transition from that predicament, how has Clinton helped and possibly hurt, and how's it all likely to turn out?

Thanks for your comments, Dreamer.

Yes, arithmetic although much

AmericanDreamer — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 15:03:12 +0000

In reply to Obama's speech impediments tonight.

Yes, arithmetic although much the longer of the two words, is folksy and unscary. Think "readin', writin' and 'rithmetic. Whereas math...well, we've worked hard at talking ourselves into math phobia in this country, where it's common to hear prominent people tell us (reassure us?) that they were never good at math, as though they're almost proud of it. So don't talk to people who are in many cases terrified of math, or are convinced they should be and maybe even need to be, about "simple math" unless you're prepared to have a chunk of your audience suddenly tense up and find themselves suddenly unable to hear whatever it is you're saying after that. Big Dog gets that.