Obama Needs New Speechwriter. Stat!
Mollie Hemingway, Ed. ·
March 23, 2012 at 3:33pm
This bit from a Danish television show reveals that President Obama is stuck in a bit of a rut. It's a bit painful to watch, but for the good of our diplomatic efforts, I think we need to help the president find a new speechwriter immediately:
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Dec '10
Re: Obama Needs New Speechwriter. Stat!
You know you've sunk to the depths when you're being ridiculed by the Danes.
Re: Obama Needs New Speechwriter. Stat!
That was extremely painful to watch.
May '10
Re: Obama Needs New Speechwriter. Stat!
What a pitiful gasbag. If he weren't so mendacious, he'd be amusing.
Jun '10
Re: Obama Needs New Speechwriter. Stat!
When words don't matter, why not repeat the same boilerplate over and over? Besides, actually knowing something about Danish culture and history might take some actual work.
May '10
Re: Obama Needs New Speechwriter. Stat!
No, no, no! We've been assured by our homegrown comedians, late-night talk shows hosts, etc., that there is nothing about this President that can be made fun of!
Hmmm.... maybe there're not trying very hard.
Feb '11
Re: Obama Needs New Speechwriter. Stat!
Obviously a person in situations well beyond his capabilities.......he should keep to just reading teleprompters.
It's still so hard to believe that anybody with an ounce of sense could have voted for this fool.....
Jan '11
Re: Obama Needs New Speechwriter. Stat!
Painful indeed. What's kind of interesting in watching that montage is the way Obama affects his speech pattern, acting as if these phrases are the product of actual mental deliberation-big intellectual constitutional law professor.
What a fraud.
Jul '10
Re: Obama Needs New Speechwriter. Stat!
If any further evidence was needed that the man is bone lazy here it is.
May '10
Re: Obama Needs New Speechwriter. Stat!
Paul-FB: Obviously a person in situations well beyond his capabilities.......he should keep to just reading teleprompters.
It's still so hard to believe that anybody with an ounce of sense could have voted for this fool..... · 34 minutes ago
I can hardly believe it myself. Every day I'm astounded that he managed to get elected.
Re: Obama Needs New Speechwriter. Stat!
Embarrassing!
It reminds me of the last season of the reality show The Bachelor where the bozo bachelor repeatedly described every single woman as "an incredible woman." He knew no other compliment than to say that so and so was "an incredible woman." He said it before he dumped women as well as when he was proposing to a woman.
Re: Obama Needs New Speechwriter. Stat!
OK, the "punch above their weight" tic is lazy and condescending, I'll give you that. But apart from the touches of hyperbole (obviously only one country can be our "closest ally"), I'm not particularly bothered by this.
It'd be a bigger deal if Obama was hosting heads of government from allied nations and not making reference to our close ties. Is he unimaginative in his remarks? Sure, but I think if you combed the archives you'd find that almost all presidents go on auto-pilot in this setting, simply because it's such a regular occurrence.
When the President is in Washington, it's rare for a week to go by without one of these state visits (and oftentimes there are several within a few days of each other). Unless the visitor is someone of the status of Prime Minister Netanyahu, the story usually doesn't make the news anywhere other than in the visiting leader's home country. Thus you want to make sure they have the "strong ally" soundbite for the one occasion per year when the President pays them any public attention.
Boring? Yes. Programmatic? Yes. Valueless? No.
Mar '11
Re: Obama Needs New Speechwriter. Stat!
But, notice the sharp crease on his pants.
Apr '11
Re: Obama Needs New Speechwriter. Stat!
Agreed. And you know that if they went to effort to be creative in their praise, every now and again there'd be some unintended meaning or humor. Plus, they have dozens of these events to pick from, so using the same formulation a half dozen times doesn't demonstrate all that heavy a reliance.
Re: Obama Needs New Speechwriter. Stat!
That's right. There are two factors at work here:
(1) Being creative may be an important factor to a domestic audience that's tired of hearing the president drone on. But for the foreign audiences that are the primary targets here, a clear, direct formulation is the goal.
(2) There's an inherent danger in trying to wax lyrical about the history or culture of more obscure (to American audiences, anyway) nations -- that you'll get something wrong or that the message will get loss in translation. An ounce of prevention ...
James Of England
And you know that if they went to effort to be creative in their praise, every now and again there'd be some unintended meaning or humor. · 2 minutes ago
Sep '11
Re: Obama Needs New Speechwriter. Stat!
Diane Ellis, Ed.: Embarrassing!
It reminds me of the last season of the reality show The Bachelorwhere the bozo bachelor repeatedly described everysingle woman as "an incredible woman." He knew no other compliment than to say that so and so was "an incredible woman." He said it before he dumped women as well as when he was proposing to a woman. · 24 minutes ago
Uh..Diane? You realize that you've just publicly admitted to watching the show, right?
Feb '12
Re: Obama Needs New Speechwriter. Stat!
So fitting for a week when we heard about the charter members of flat Earth society... twice!
Edited on March 23, 2012 at 6:45pmRe: Obama Needs New Speechwriter. Stat!
John Murdoch
Diane Ellis, Ed.: Embarrassing!
It reminds me of the last season of the reality show The Bachelorwhere the bozo bachelor repeatedly described everysingle woman as "an incredible woman." He knew no other compliment than to say that so and so was "an incredible woman." He said it before he dumped women as well as when he was proposing to a woman. · 24 minutes ago
Uh..Diane? You realize that you've just publicly admitted to watching the show, right? · 50 minutes ago
Yes. It's a guilty pleasure of mine.
Oct '10
Re: Obama Needs New Speechwriter. Stat!
I fear the Danes did not see their value in the boring, programmatic statements. If everybody is our strongest and closest ally, then nobody may be in earnest. I think it is possible to be clear and direct on themes but it doesn't mean you have to use the same verbatim phrases. It would be instructive to see how other presidents have dealt with the same scenario for contrast but I also don't think convention is an entirely comforting defense of the practice.
Dec '10
Re: Obama Needs New Speechwriter. Stat!
Diane Ellis, Ed.
John Murdoch
Diane Ellis, Ed.: Embarrassing!
It reminds me of the last season of the reality show The Bachelorwhere the bozo bachelor repeatedly described everysingle woman as "an incredible woman." He knew no other compliment than to say that so and so was "an incredible woman." He said it before he dumped women as well as when he was proposing to a woman. · 24 minutes ago
Uh..Diane? You realize that you've just publicly admitted to watching the show, right? · 50 minutes ago
Yes. It's a guilty pleasure of mine. · 4 hours ago
Can't find fault there - my wife & daughter both watch it. Gives me the perfect excuse to stay downstairs and read - in other words, to be a little anti-social for a while.