Obama's Oratory Grabbing Spotlight

(CBS)  Barack Obama is often treated like a rock star on the campaign trail. People wait hours to hear him speak. He draws huge crowds.

And, pundits say, his powerful speechmaking style plays no small part in his appeal.

People "come in droves -- by the tens of thousands at times" to hear Obama speak, observes Early Show national correspondent Tracy Smith.

His "soaring rhetoric," she says, "is moving his audiences not just politically, but emotionally," even moving audience members to tears on occasion.

Even some political commentators who've seen it all can't help but gush.

Chris Matthews, host of CNBC's "Hardball," recently remarked about "the feeling most people get when they hear a Barack Obama speech. I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean -- I don't have that too often!"

Longtime Republican strategist and pollster Frank Luntz, author of the book "Words That Work," told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith Thursday he's "more than impressed" with Obama's oratory. "I've been mesmerized."

Tracy Smith says Obama's "stoic eloquence, " with lines like, "WE are the ones we've been waiting for," conjures up images of President Kennedy.

"Ask not what your country can do for you," Kennedy said in his inaugural address. "Ask what you can do for your country."

Obama says something similar in his stump speeches: "We will invest in you; you invest in your country!"

JFK speechwriter Ted Sorensen supports Obama and speaks regularly with the campaign's speechwriting team, Tracy Smith points out.

"Kennedy had this wonderful, wry, ironic sense, just as Obama does," says Time magazine columnist Joe Klein. " ... Both of them are cool customers, which works well on television."

Obama's mantra, "Yes we can!" has even gone hip-hop, in a Dipdive.com music video viewed more than three million times on YouTube.

But, Tracy Smith says, "inspirational rhetoric comes with political risks."

"The biggest political danger that Obama faces with this style of rhetoric is that he's just not going to connect with the working class voters of the Democratic party," Klein comments.

Likely GOP presidential nominee John McCain already has an answer for Obama's oratory, shoudl the two square off in November, telling supporters, "To encourage a country with only rhetoric, rather than sound and proven ideas that trust in the strength and courage of free people, is not a promise of hope. It's a platitude."

Luntz agreed with Harry Smith's assessment that McCain and Hillary Clinton are "very concerned" about Obama's words.

"They are," Luntz concurred, "but what they don't understand is that, for a whole lot of Americans, the candidates' attributes and character traits are even more important than where they stand. If they trust them, if they believe them. If this is someone who's a visionary.

"Here's the key attribute Americans want in 2008: Somebody who says what they mean and means what they say. If Obama were to ever be shown as a hypocrite, to say one thing and then say something completely different, then he's in trouble. But if he maintains that visionary, in essence, that hope and uplifting rhetoric, he survives and thrives."

Noting that the word "hope" was superimposed in large letters at the end of the Divedom.com music video, Luntz remarked that he's "never seen a candidate whose slogan and language is bigger than his own name in the buttons and the bumper stickers.

"It's interesting that people compare him to John Kennedy. It's Bobby Kennedy that he's channeling."

Luntz read from "Words That Work," saying, "It was the last thing I added to the book, because I thought this was the best language I'd ever heard: 'Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago, to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.' That was Bobby Kennedy the night Martin Luther King was killed.

"That's what Barack Obama is saying today. Hillary Clinton is very overt in her attacks against the Republicans: 'We're not going to let ourselves get "swift-boated." ' Obama says, 'Come on in. We will not divide by race, we will not divide by age, we will not divide by partisanship.' And he talks about Republicans supporting him."

Harry Smith noted that Obama has dubbed such Republicans "Obamacans."

"It's unprecedented," Luntz says.

And the impact of Obama's oratory on the youth vote is inescapable, Luntz stresses: "When you go to an event and you see so many thousands of 18, 19, 20-year-olds -- the only time they ever cared until this point was that they couldn't get their latte at Starbucks."

But will young voters -- vote?

"Young people make up 12, 14, in some states as much as 18 percent of the primary electorate. Not only will they drop their lattes, they'll take their iPods out and listen to him.

"How great is it that, for the first time in my lifetime, the youth of America are energized, emboldened and they can't wait to vote."

When Smith made an aside that such glowing words were coming from a Republican pollster, Luntz said, "I would argue that I've kind of left that time behind me."

[david1737]

We need another "great communicator"

[david1737]

Obama''s oratory skills are exactly why he''s got my vote, combined with his understanding of damage which the Middle Class in America has endured in recent year he''s the obvious choice.

[david1737]

That''''s about all the guy has.....oratory. His speach writer is a genious. You take his teleprompters away and make him ''''represent'''' and he FALLS FLAT on his FACE!

Posted by Infidel_US


Your statement show how naive you really are. Very few people, including gifted entertainers look "brilliant" without stagecraft. Everything Reagan did was very well staged. Example, his "fireside" meetings, and famous greeting of Gorbachev where he runs down the steps in sub zero weather in Russia. Practically all "brilliant" moments are very well staged.

The irony is the better the preplanning, the easier it all looks.

[infidel_us]

That''s about all the guy has.....oratory. His speach writer is a genious. You take his teleprompters away and make him ''represent'' and he FALLS FLAT on his FACE!

[david1737]

From Obam''s website:

"American Jobs: Barack Obama introduced the Patriot Employer Act of 2007 to provide a tax credit to companies that maintain or increase the number of full-time workers in America relative to those outside the US; maintain their corporate headquarters in America; pay decent wages; prepare workers for retirement; provide health insurance; and support employees who serve in the military."

[david1737]

From Obama''s website:

"Obama has been closely monitoring the subprime mortgage situation for years, and introduced comprehensive legislation over a year ago to fight mortgage fraud and protect consumers against abusive lending practices. Obama''s STOP FRAUD Act provides the first federal definition of mortgage fraud, increases funding for federal and state law enforcement programs, creates new criminal penalties for mortgage professionals found guilty of fraud, and requires industry insiders to report suspicious activity."

[taddles-2009]

No, what we need is a leader we can believe in. Facts make themselves as the campaign progresses, government will go on in it''s ponderous way but the ability to inspire, that''s what counts now.

We''ve had years of our Government lying to our face, manipulating facts for their own greedy ends, causing death and destruction in our names. What we need is fewer "facts" and more trust. We need to trust that our leaders words are not being scripted by lobbyists and greedy power brokers. We need a leader with moral fiber who will stick to what he says and only speak the truth.

We don''t need another person who changes their rhetoric for political expedience, who''s ideology goes the way of the highest opinion poll, who''s platform is dictated by the highest bidder.

[david1737]

The world is a very complex place. The fact is that the issues we face today cannot be properly addressed in the short attention span media format that most of us are used to. This is why it is up to US to research the positions of the candidates who are running. Only then can you make a truly informed decision.

Unless you''ve actually done some home work on Obama''s positions don''t complain that he doesn''t have any.

[david1737]

We need FACTS, Mr Obama. No slogans and fancy speaches. We need SPECIFICKS Mr. Obama, no rhetorics. We need to know "How-To" in hot issues.

We are waiting!!!!!!!!


Posted by nikosk1



Read Obama''s positions on the issues on his website.
Do a little research, it takes time, but it''s worth it.

[david1737]

Want the facts?

Go to Obama''s website click on issues and read his positions.