Is Barack Obama a great orator? He is, inarguably, an accomplished teleprompter. But, Cicero, is that the same thing as being a great orator? Britain’s premier left-of-center paper, The Guardian, parses Obama’s recent performance when he and Gordon Brown were interviewed by Nick Robinson, political editor at the BBC.
Nick Robinson: “A question for you both, if I may. The prime minister has repeatedly blamed the United States of America for causing this crisis. France and Germany both blame Britain and America for causing this crisis. Who is right? And isn’t the debate about that at the heart of the debate about what to do now?”
Brown immediately swivels to leave Obama in pole position. There is a four-second delay before Obama starts speaking [THANKS FOR NOTHING, GORDY BABY. REMIND ME TO HANG YOU OUT TO DRY ONE DAY.] Barack Obama: “I, I, would say that, er … pause [I HAVEN'T A CLUE] … if you look at … pause [WHO IS THIS NICK ROBINSON JERK?] … the, the sources of this crisis … pause [JUST KEEP GOING, BUDDY] … the United States certainly has some accounting to do with respect to . . . pause [I'M IN WAY TOO DEEP HERE] … a regulatory system that was inadequate to the massive changes that have taken place in the global financial system … pause, close eyes [THIS IS GOING TO GO DOWN LIKE A CROCK OF SHIT BACK HOME. HELP]. I think what is also true is that … pause [I WANT NICK ROBINSON TO DISAPPEAR] … here in Great Britain … pause [SHIT, GORDY'S THE HOST, DON'T LAND HIM IN IT] … here in continental Europe … pause [DAMN IT, BLAME EVERYONE.] … around the world. We were seeing the same mismatch between the regulatory regimes that were in place and er … pause [I'VE LOST MY TRAIN OF THOUGHT AGAIN] … the highly integrated, er, global capital markets that have emerged … pause [I'M REALLY WINGING IT NOW]. So at this point, I’m less interested in … pause [YOU] … identifying blame than fixing the problem. I think we’ve taken some very aggressive steps in the United States to do so, not just responding to the immediate crisis, ensuring banks are adequately capitalised, er, dealing with the enormous, er … pause [WHY DIDN'T I QUIT WHILE I WAS AHEAD?] … drop-off in demand and contraction that has taken place. More importantly, for the long term, making sure that we’ve got a set of, er, er, regulations that are up to the task, er, and that includes, er, a number that will be discussed at this summit. I think there’s a lot of convergence between all the parties involved about the need, for example, to focus not on the legal form that a particular financial product takes or the institution it emerges from, but rather what’s the risk involved, what’s the function of this product and how do we regulate that adequately, much more effective coordination, er, between countries so we can, er, anticipate the risks that are involved there. Dealing with the, er, problem of derivatives markets, making sure we have set up systems, er, that can reduce some of the risks there. So, I actually think … pause [FANTASTIC. I'VE LOST EVERYONE, INCLUDING MYSELF] … there’s enormous consensus that has emerged in terms of what we need to do now and, er … pause [I'M OUTTA HERE. TIME FOR THE USUAL CLOSING BOLLOCKS] … I’m a great believer in looking forwards than looking backwards.
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32 Comments
1. hM:Maybe I just don’t know enough about finance, but whenever he opens his mouth in regard to the economy it’s like he’s got the sentence he wants to say already mapped out and he then just adds random economy-related words, like some twisted game of financial mad libs. If this is what passes as great oratory power George W. Bush was a genius.
Apr 4, 2009 - 5:33 am 2. Peg C.:If this is not proof that this guy is an idiot, I don’t know what is.
Apr 4, 2009 - 6:46 am 3. RCK:Yiks! It’s Casey Stengel, in a suit!
Apr 4, 2009 - 7:21 am 4. Billw:Obama concludes, “I’m a great believer in looking forwards than looking backwards.”. Then why is he continually blaming someone in the past as a justification for his bizarre borrowing and spending?
Apr 4, 2009 - 8:25 am 5. John Calomiris:The Guardian has it right.The MSM has it`s sniffter right up his behind and are so intoxicated they outdo the three monkeys.
Apr 4, 2009 - 9:31 am 6. jwm:Face it. Teh Preznit is teh stoopid.
JWM
Apr 4, 2009 - 9:40 am 7. LeighB:Is Barack a great orator?
“I, I, would say that, er……if you look at……the, the sources of this crisis……the United States certainly has some accounting to do with respect to…pause…HOW I GOT, er…uh…ELECTED.”
In a word, NO.
Apr 4, 2009 - 9:53 am 8. ronnor:Major dufuss drivel. He needs a TelePrompTer screwed into his frontal lobes. He’s in so far over his head its scary. What a mistake for the country, in a war and the economy turned upside down and we have no leaders. Jimmy Carter must be overjoyed to have lost his place in history as the worst President ever.
Apr 4, 2009 - 10:30 am 9. Pal Joey:Bless that Brit!
Apr 4, 2009 - 11:01 am 10. ic:But his handlers are geniuses. They scheduled his appearance at 5:00 am US time, instead of the usual prime time, so no one in the US was watching. That gave time for the MSM to cover his butt up.
Apr 4, 2009 - 11:42 am 11. LSD:The O-rator might have just said this:
“Obviously, it is due to the relative might of the US economy and vital connections between global markets that this problem was immediately felt in international ecomomies around the globe.
-Rest assured that we are currently working hard to remedy both of those problems.”
Apr 4, 2009 - 11:45 am 12. GW Crawford:The One is The Greatest speaker of all time. Why do you think he dumped Churchill’s bust when PM Brown visited… he doesn’t want to be reminded of leaders who spoke funny.
Apr 4, 2009 - 11:47 am 13. Rob Easterling:All acknowledge that he had the greatest win ever in American political history. His roughly 8% margin over McCain shows that 100% of America is behind him uh, um, uh and his administrations policies – up to and including a threat to allow mob justice on the bankers.
Well, democracy ensures that you get the government you deserve – and America is getting it good and hard
(For the record, Johnson and Nixon both got over a 20% margin and Reagan 18%)
I can hardly wait until David Letterman plays this in Great Moments in Presidential Oratory.
Apr 4, 2009 - 12:27 pm 14. Andrew_M_Garland:Here are two interesting windows into Obama’s character.
Richard Epstein discusses Barack Obama
Richard Epstein is the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, where he has taught since 1972. He was a colleague of Barack Obama when Obama taught as an instructor. Epstein had mutual friends with Obama, and talked to Obama about some issues. His main description is that Obama is under complete self-control.
Apr 4, 2009 - 12:55 pm 15. Paul M Hupf:Obama and God
When God talks to you through your inner voice, it is even better than prayer. Obama experiences this every day, in his own words, revealed in a March 2004 interview with a reporter on religious issues.
The President doesn’t know how to give a brief answer; rather he responds ad lib to the question and he is unable to do so briefly. Brevity is the hallmark of someone who is in a position of authority and who is on top of the question. Verbosity indicates alack of understanding of the subject of the question and a lack of conviction.
Apr 4, 2009 - 1:40 pm 16. Theocritus:When MAXINE WATERS thinks he’s in over his head, you might as well sky-write it.
He never did learn about governing, only running for office, and the MSM was so tickled to have him that they forgave him anything. I’m waiting for the time that even they will figure out that they will look bigger by dumping on him, which is to say, telling the truth. Because the truth per se doesn’t interest them.
Apr 4, 2009 - 3:23 pm 17. Bob:I don’t think the MSM ever will turn on him, Theo. Obama’s ideology is their ideology; his agenda is their agenda. That’s not a formula for truth-telling. Plus, we all know they’re too “altruistic” and above “money-grubbing” to care about their circulation figures…so the reality bat is useless.
But I think our concern is needless. Obama’s got this all in the bag. Complex issues like these are a cake walk for him. What’s difficult is finding the words to explain it all to us children.
Apr 4, 2009 - 4:27 pm 18. Dave:\sarc
George Bush was painful to watch and listen to but I always got his point and understood his intentions when he was done speaking. Obama is also painful to watch when speaking without the teleprompter but even when he speaks with it I have no clue what he actually means. He is glib and reads well. Behind that facade lies a callow arrogant mind and he is not aware of how smart he is not.
Apr 4, 2009 - 5:27 pm 19. MCMJR:The important thing with B. Hussein Obama is not what he says, either tele-prompt or drivelled, but what he does. There is a WSJ/Fox Business story on Drudge (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123879833094588163.html) about a large bank that can’t return TARP money. I suggest you not waste your time bitching to the choir but contact each and every moderate Dem and offer your support to stop this destruction of the United States of America!
Apr 4, 2009 - 7:08 pm 20. frankieboy:My God, I finally found out the meaning of
Apr 4, 2009 - 7:45 pm 21. frankieboy:B O M F O G
For the uninformed:Brotherhood Of Man Farther
Apr 4, 2009 - 7:48 pm 22. vigilant:hood Of God…….
I don’t have to Decode Obama. I cancelled all news print media and cable. I haven’t felt so free for decades.
Hold a TEA PARTY to feel even better. Contact Young Republicans on local campuses for details. Visit Americans for Prosperity website. JOIN! FIGHT!
Apr 4, 2009 - 8:20 pm 23. JFSanders:Welcome to the outside Vigilant.
Now prepare for your obligations…
Jim
Apr 5, 2009 - 9:29 am 24. B Hussein Obama:Mah, um, name, er, be barrack, er, barry hussein obama I is a great, er ahem, orate-or when I’s gots, er er, mines teleeprompter thar er.
Apr 5, 2009 - 12:11 pm 25. El Gordo:Obama is not that bad and if he were just a bad public speaker, I wouldn´t care. The problem is, he is still far too effective as a salesman. And what he sells – fear, self-pity, envy – isn´t healthy.
Obama does not care much about other people and he has contempt for America in particular. I realized that as early as 2007 listening to his interviews and speeches. He is no “imperfect servant” of the people. He is a narcissist and an ideologue. He will spend all our money or surrender our sovereignty just to make a point but does not really care what that money does or whether he actually achieves the opposite of what he says. The word, the intent is reality. Blame for failure will lie with the unenlightened, the unworthy, i. e. with US. The narcissist moves on, leaving bad laws and a broke Republic behind.
Apr 5, 2009 - 2:26 pm 26. tforeman:Thank you, Guardian, for a wonderful piece and a good laugh. It was superb. The first time I heard the current occupant of the Oval Office, live at a campaign stop, I wondered what all the fuss was about. With his annoying cadence, his really irritating “uptalk,” his string of disconnected marshmallow phrases and his outdated class warfare tactics, I can’t bear to listen. Let me use the word I heard when I stopped in at Parliament: Rubbish!
Apr 5, 2009 - 4:01 pm 27. Roger Godby:Maybe I’m dyslexic or lazy, but I don’t think I counted Hope™ or Change™ once. I guess those two words are now so 2008.
Apr 6, 2009 - 3:48 am 28. Professor Guvinoff:Methinks somebody is expalining too much.
Apr 6, 2009 - 8:25 am 29. Polemicscat:I have visited 57 States so far, two more to go.
Apr 7, 2009 - 8:51 am 30. Gaffe Prices:In another time, where the needs of growing students were addressed by educators for the benefit of students, 0 is suffering from what was then called a diction problem (No pun intended, andrew). And in the day he would have been given special attention by a speech therapist.
But we can’t have a professional help to correct the source of a problem that will cause critical problems later in life now can we? IOW, Why help someone now with something that could help him later when it would jeopardize the self esteem of the child today?
To do so would trip the default circuit breaker and we would then have, of course, racism. And that is always grounds for blaming someone else.
Apr 11, 2009 - 6:02 am 31. acj:Give me a break, George Bushism’s were so much better! And he really was an idiot.
Apr 12, 2009 - 6:23 am 32. Gaffe Prices:Update: in his al-aribiya-taqquia interview, the tel-0-pr0mpt0r in thief used the word “expouse”. that’s ‘ex-pouse’.
I’ll see your Bushisms and raise you that one
Apr 21, 2009 - 9:17 pm