To Obama, We're Children. To Daniels, We're Adults.
Literally. According to a Flesch-Kincaid analysis by the University of Minnesota's Smart Politics, President Obama's State of the Union addresses have the lowest average score of any modern president. He owns three of the six lowest-scoring addresses since FDR. Last night's speech was written at an 8th grade level. Here are the scores for the modern presidents:
| Rank | President | Words per sentence | Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level |
| 1 | John Kennedy | 23.8 | 12.0 |
| 2 | Dwight Eisenhower | 20.5 | 11.9 |
| 3 | Richard Nixon | 23.5 | 11.5 |
| 4 | Franklin Roosevelt | 24.3 | 11.4 |
| 5 | Gerald Ford | 19.3 | 11.2 |
| 6 | Jimmy Carter | 19.7 | 10.8 |
| 7 | Harry Truman | 18.9 | 10.5 |
| 8 | Lyndon Johnson | 20.3 | 10.4 |
| 8 | George W. Bush | 19.0 | 10.4 |
| 10 | Ronald Reagan | 19.6 | 10.3 |
| 11 | Bill Clinton | 19.0 | 9.5 |
| 12 | George H.W. Bush | 17.4 | 8.6 |
| 13 | Barack Obama | 16.7 | 8.4 |
My husband plugged Mitch Daniels' response into the Flesch-Kincaid read-o-meter. Gov. Daniels was speaking to us as adults, just like I said! His score was Grade 14. Remember these last lines?
We will advance our positive suggestions with confidence, because we know that Americans are still a people born to liberty. There is nothing wrong with the state of our Union that the American people, addressed as free-born, mature citizens, cannot set right.
Sadly, this also might explain why some people prefer Obama's rhetoric to Daniels. Some people prefer being treated as juveniles than as "free-born, mature citizens."
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Dec '11
Re: To Obama, We're Children. To Daniels, We're Adults.
Maybe it's just me but I sense that people are looking for adult conversations about the direction of the country. I would prefer that the GOP rebuttal be in a classroom with a whiteboard and plenty of visuals about the state of our entitlement programs, along with a clear outline of solutions.
Dec '11
Re: To Obama, We're Children. To Daniels, We're Adults.
Maybe Grant learned that trick from Napoleon?
May '10
Re: To Obama, We're Children. To Daniels, We're Adults.
The State of the Union was last night.
I did not watch.
I had other things to do.
There is an election in November.
I hope we win.
Sep '10
Re: To Obama, We're Children. To Daniels, We're Adults.
That sounds like Paul Ryan
Dec '11
Re: To Obama, We're Children. To Daniels, We're Adults.
That's why I like him and I'm not a wonk.