Is Eloquence Overrated? Obama's speeches "hit some sweet spot in the American soul"

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Is Eloquence Overrated?
By PETER APPLEBOME
Published: January 13, 2008

....Observers have fallen over one another to praise Mr. Obama’s ability to deliver inspirational speeches. It’s not hard to hear in his victory speech in Iowa echoes of the moral urgency of Dr. King, the generational call to greatness in challenging times of John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy and the sunny vision of a unified America that evokes President Reagan. Part black church, part yes-we-can American positivism, Mr. Obama’s speeches seem crafted to almost irresistibly hit some sweet spot in the American soul.

And in a society where we depend so heavily on means of communication other than speech, and language takes its cues from the casual din of pop culture, one reason he looks so dazzling is that the general level of rhetorical skills has fallen so far, said David Zarefsky, a professor of communication studies at Northwestern University.

It also might not hurt that Mr. Obama is a successful writer on his own or that one of his main speechwriters, Adam Frankel, spent much of the past six years immersing himself in the language of the Kennedy era while working with Mr. Sorensen, who has severely limited eyesight as a result of a stroke, on his upcoming memoir.

Does a great speech make a great politician or leader? Hillary Rodham Clinton last week pointedly said not necessarily, noting, in a phrase she borrowed from Mario M. Cuomo, “You campaign in poetry, but you govern in prose.” But Mr. Sorensen, who is supporting Mr. Obama, said there was a real link between inspirational oratory and inspirational leadership.

“The most important quality for a president, as Kennedy and Roosevelt demonstrated, is not how many roll call votes he answered sitting in the Senate, but his qualities as a leader who can mobilize people, inspire them, galvanize them, arouse them to action,” he said. “The ability to inspire and excite an audience on the campaign trail is one of the reasons I think Obama will be a success as president.” Those communication skills mean even more now that the next president faces the task of not just winning over the country, but rebuilding American esteem around the world, he said.

Others are less convinced....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/weekinreview/13applebome.html