Obama's Oratory Grabbing Spotlight

Being Compared To JFK, Drawing Huge Crowds, Moving Some To Tears; Pundits, Rivals Noticing

(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."

[bec67]

Obama gives a good speech, but he''s like getting an empty box of candy, exciting when you get it but when you finally open it up, there is nothing inside. If he is the dems candidate, I will vote McCain.

[mbcsmith]

We knew Jack Kennedy and Barrack Hussein is no Jack Kennedy.

[sjbj2322]

Bec67 said....Obama gives a good speech, but he''''s like getting an empty box of candy, exciting when you get it but when you finally open it up, there is nothing inside. If he is the dems candidate, I will vote McCain.

I say DITTO!! How quickly some of these people forget that what hits the pop charts today is old news tomorrow. I don''t think many of Obama''s supporters have a clue what it will mean to them when he says that the efforts to change things in this country will fall squarely on them. How their attitudes will change when that happens. Conversely if they fail....who do you think he will blame - Himself!! Of course not....the people will have failed him. So lame....such an opportunistic hack.

[destardi]

Oh please.

in 1991, when Bill Clinton was running...he garnered huge support from "young voters." I know, because I was one...

All of this talk about a "movement" is ridiculous; these younger voters are treating the Presidential election as a superbowl of politics...After the election (if they even show up) most of them will go back to not caring a bit about politics; I''ve seen it happen already.

[realpatriot1]

When I hear Chris Matthews speak I get an overwhelming sensation in my ***...an excrutiatingly painful sensation!

[gumbo1962]

Barf! Barf! Barf! I just lost my breakfast!
Please don''t be trapped into the deception.

Don''t get caught up in the media frenzy and feel good tingling sensation.

He''s a Wolf in sheeps clothing! Don''t Trust Him!

[briannorwood]

"To encourage a country with only rhetoric...is not a promise of hope. It''s a platitude." -- McCain.


Thanks Grandpa. I''m sure your opinion was a real hit back at the old folk''s home.

[briannorwood]

"All of this talk about a "movement" is ridiculous;"--destardi1.

You just don''t get it yet. Keep trying.

[DCropp]

Some would argue that Barack is nothing more than an a great orator. It''s interesting to note that he was the first one to come out and talk about putting America back to work by rebuilding America''s infrastructure.

Many of us have witnessed deteriorating roads, collapsing bridges, broken levies, etc. Barack announced plans to rebuild these. He also wants to build renewable energy resources. All this and he already has planned how to finance it, so we''re not running a huge deficit.

Between fixing the infrastructure and renewable energy, maybe Americans once again can be united and proud.

As for hope...
Many of our ancestors came to America because of hope. Hope is what gets us out of bed in the morning. Hope is what makes us strive to be better people. Every parent hopes to give their child a better life than they had. Hope is what America is built on. From hope, our ancestors grew the United States of America.

[vet_sk]

Obama''s speeches are not empty. That''s Hillary rhetoric. Have you listened to him?

Folks, I agree. We need hope in this country. We need a mouthpiece to the world - to let them know the real United States is back again. And this is better done with someone who was against the war from the beginning. The world is ticked at us right now for the Iraq War, and I am afraid, rightfully so.

[gunownerdan]

"Today we need a nation of minute men; citizens who are not only prepared to take up arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as a basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom. The cause of liberty, the cause of American, cannot succeed with any lesser effort."
-- President John F. Kennedy, January 29, 1961

A-HUMAN-RIGHT.com

[pseudo19]

Rumors abound Obama is the Anti Christ..more truth tahn humor....

[flreason]

"All of this talk about a "movement" is ridiculous; ...After the election (if they even show up) most of them will go back to not caring a bit about politics; I''''ve seen it happen already."
Posted by destardi1

Since you say you were one of the young supporters of Bill Clinton in ''91, you''re not old enough to remember the last time young voters were this energized. In 1968, young voters forced a sitting President (Johnson) to drop a bid for reelection. They propelled Gene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy to frontrunner status. If Kennedy hadn''t been assassinated, he would undoubtedly have been elected President. I became a government relations professional and have stayed involved in party politics. You might want to look at youth and the labor movement in the 1930s, as well.

In ''68 it was an unpopular war and the draft that energized our generation. In ''08, it''s an unpopular war, and government/corporate corruption bankrupting the country and jeopardizing the future of this generation of workers that motivates them. Obama is the only candidate who seems to offer then a real change.

The reason your generation didn''t stay energized was because you took the Clinton era prosperity for granted. Your personal view of history lacks depth and accuracy.

[flreason]

That should read: "Obama is the only candidate that offers them a real change."

[plevy888]

I don''t begrudge any journalist for his or her constitutional right to personally support or oppose political candidates -- but using their media outlets to play with their audience''s emotions is a bit much.
Chris Matthews has lost his credibility.

[jack3213]

Here are some realities that neither group wants to face: Both candidates are establishment insiders
Both are corporate-state politicians. Large sources of Obama money are law firms, investment houses, and real estate companies, and 80 percent of his donors are affiliated with business, compared to 85 percent for Clinton.Neither are true progressives or populists, like Kucinich and Edwards.
Both Clinton the fighter and Obama the talker will sell out once they confront presidential realities. Why? Because plutocracies know how to retain power AFTER elections. After two years it will be clear that the new president will have failed to extract the US from Iraq, will have failed to deliver universal health care, will have failed to address illegal immigration, will have done nothing to get a new and serious 9/11 investigation, will have done nothing to stop middle-class-killing globalization, and will have utterly disappointed the vast majority of Americans.
Finally, for those seeking serious political system reforms, it is troubling that neither Clinton nor, especially, Obama have the courage to advocate needed constitutional amendments, such as replacing the Electoral College with the popular vote for president, getting all private money out of politics, making universal health care a right, and preventing presidential signing statements that undermine laws.

[barbaraf4]

After listening to 8 years of a moron who has a mouthful of marbles and who cannot speak in complete sentences, Obama''s words fall like rain on a thirsty soul. (Who is his speech writer? Tell me he writes his own speeches and I will really be impressed).

[flreason]

jack3213:

Well put. Many of your points are accurate, although I would like to know your source for "80% of Obama''s contributions" being affiliated with business. If I work, does that make me associated with business? However, Obama''s hundreds of thousands of individual donors is unprecedented.

Having said that, the only way for the needed reforms to be implemented is for people who espouse those goals to seek office, and for voters who understand the need to become activists, educators, and advocates. When an aware electorate demands candidates who will implement these reforms--and holds them to their promises--then we will see our government transformed. From my perspective, that means that party loyalist and religious/idealogical litmus tests that discourage intelligent candidates from running need to be de-emphasized. The current system rewards "yes men": system manipulators who play the game by the system rules for their personal gain. We need a 21st century Thomas Paine who can awaken and energize our electorate. I think the successes of Huckabee and Obama give us cause for hope.

There are no perfect candidates, just as there are no perfect political systems. Both have to be constantly monitored and adjusted when they stray too far from their roles as workers for the common good.

[bikegirl03]

You''re right about working people. We are NOT in the least bit enchanted by BHO''s rants and raves. I am NOT getting goosebumps....rather, I am frightened about the hidden agendas of this man and what it means if he gets into the big house! WAKE UP YOU FOOLS!

[infidel_us]

He sounds good as long as the teleprompters are working. When he has to hack it on his own, he really shows off how little he knows.

[flreason]

Infidel: Could you put in the kinds of hours he has on the campaign trail, and then get up in front of a crowd of 15,000 people and consistently be a glib off-the-cuff speaker? If so, then maybe you should consider running for office. Candidates are human. I think Obama''s poise as a public speaker is improving with time. He certainly uses speechwriters--as did JFK (Pierre Salinger) and most other national politicians. Bush isn''t genuine or folksy, he just can''t read well--even teleprompters.

[nicksp2]

Unfortunately what the media don''t show here in their glassy eyed support of Obama is the fact that he is plagarizing his ideas from Clinton - whenever he actually concedes to giving specifics! His green collar jobs, his infrastructure bank...we''ve heard it all before because Clinton started talking about it in 2007! Yes, a brilliant orator, too bad his policies are not his own. That tells me a lot about what will happen if he makes it to the White House. Scary!

[nicksp2]

real nice, Tracymorgan3. Maybe Obama''s got your tongue and all his minions have lost the ability to speak for themselves in proper sentences without being rude?

[remco82]

Obama has charisma. He has the ability to kindle hope among the people. McCain offers four more years of nutso Bushism while Hillary brays like a donkey and is a total fake. Go Barack!

[nicksp2]

Read the truth in the Chicago Sun Times (umm..isn''t that where Obama is from??)

http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections/794128,CST-NWS-campweb14.article

and he can''t even respond to it cuz he knows it''s true!

[jpspec]

After reading that Edwards might support Hillary, I tried to find out is this was true. No luck. However, in the process, I did discover that it was Edwards who FIRST used the word %u201Cchange%u201Din the primaries and Not Obama. Later, when Obama finally came out with %u201Chis%u201D Heath Plan, I thought it was interesting that it was so much like the one that Hillary had prepared earlier. Now today, I read the following blog. I do not know if it is true. However, iintend to check it out. If true, then it is important that the voters know that Obama is guilty of plagiarism.


"Obama''s (economic) plan. is the most shameless piece of potential plagiarism that I have ever seen. He basically took Clinton''s words and Clinton''s policies and called them his own. If I were a professor I''d give him an F and try to get him kicked out of school," said Kevin Hassett, Sen. John McCain''s economic adviser and the Director of Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
Wow

[sdoldie]

Read Obama''s book about his early life. He writes longingly about his absent father. He doesn''t write anything warm and fuzzy about his mother and the grandparents who raised him. He doesn''t even write much about his wife. This is not a man who understands women. As a woman listening to his speeches, I have not been moved because I read more about who he has been in the past and that negates all the soaring rhetoric for me. As a mother with kids in college, I am puzzled why he changed universities in midstream from Occidental to Columbia.
Most college students that I know have it more together than that. In the past few weeks, I''ve had to really think about why I can''t support him. Because of these character questions and because we in California have already been through the learning curve it took Arnold Schwartznegger to learn his job, I am not carried away by his soaring rhetoric.

[kstar42]

You''''re right about working people. We are NOT in the least bit enchanted by BHO''''s rants and raves. I am NOT getting goosebumps....rather, I am frightened about the hidden agendas of this man and what it means if he gets into the big house! WAKE UP YOU FOOLS!
Posted by bikegirl03 at 01:16 PM : Feb 14, 2008

I totally agree with you, by the way I spoke to a muslim woman today.... she said once a muslim alway a muslim.

[kstar42]

Some would argue that Barack is nothing more than an a great orator. It''''s interesting to note that he was the first one to come out and talk about putting America back to work by rebuilding America''''s infrastructure.

Many of us have witnessed deteriorating roads, collapsing bridges, broken levies, etc. Barack announced plans to rebuild these. He also wants to build renewable energy resources. All this and he already has planned how to finance it, so we''''re not running a huge deficit.
Between fixing the infrastructure and renewable energy, maybe Americans once again can be united and proud.

Nope that''s not true Bush signed the bill for that, so no BO can''t sign *** because its already been done. do your homework!!! Go Hillary!

[sjbj2322]

Yep....just see the kind of folks he''s impressing!!

President Daniel Ortega, who led the 1979 revolution in Nicaragua, says Barack Obama''s presidential bid is a "revolutionary" phenomenon in the United States. Ortega led a Soviet-backed government that battled U.S.-supported Contra rebels before he lost power in a 1990 election. It took only one and a half hours for Ortega to reveal his trump card for restoring dignity in Central America''s poorest country: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. So far that means a mix of nationalism, demagogy and some old-fashioned conservative monetary policies, which include increasing tax collection at home by more than 50 percent.

[b-easy63]

urley panned presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who skipped the politically tricky and controversial Senate vote on the spy law Tuesday even though she had been campaigning in Washington that day.

"It really, I think is symbolic of this disconnect ... here you''''ve got someone who is campaigning for the President of the United States, making pitches to civil libertarians, but doesn''''t even show up -- when she''''s in the neighborhood -- to vote against telecom immunity," Turley charged. "I''''m not just dumping on her. The fact is there has been a lot of really duplicitous work being done by both parties."

Republican John McCain and Barack Obama both voted on amendments to the measure; Obama opposed telecom immunity, while McCain supported it. Clinton left town early to get to a campaign stop in Texas.

So the Senate passed an immunity bill for Bush...and Hilary''s not telling or does her avoiding the vote speak volumes

[b-easy63]

Here''''s a few more differences between Hilary and Obama

On torture: Obama voted to restrict methods to the Army field manual version (meaning no waterboarding)

Hilary voted to NOT restrict methods of torture


On the infamous FISA bill
On illegal wire taps--Obama voted to NOT grant immunity to telecom companies for allowing wire taps

McCAin voted to grant immunity

Hilary was in Washington, but failed to show up to vote either way--instead she left town, she also failed to vote on any other aspect of FISA according to TURLEY (skipping out or abstaining for every single vote)--so she is not on record for or against why is that? Surely you clinton supporters would like to know why she is so doggedly and firmly in Bush''s corner?

[sophielhu]

When I hear Chris Matthews speak I get an overwhelming sensation in my ***...an excrutiatingly painful sensation!
--------------------------
Internet is a good place to share information and meet friends. I recently found a nice web site called pubspa.com where you can meet friends who have same interest in beauty care, massage, wellness and spa treatment. You can also share blog, video, game, photos, etc with people from all over the world. Unlike other online dating sites where you have to pay membership fee, this site is totally free. I already made several interesting friends there

[tigerjcs]

Obama supporters are obsessed over his empty promisses. He has not shown to take a stand on any issues. He answers in general to appease both sides. Hillary on the other hands, presented her detail plans and roadmaps to deliver them. We need competence leader, not star power with no substance.

[david1737]

Want the facts?

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

[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]

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.

[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]

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."

[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."

[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]

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.

[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]

We need another "great communicator"

[bobbyduck1]

I began this election season as a Hillary supporter, as she seemed the most likely person to take on the extremely ugly and powerful RNC machine. I even voted for her (in absentia) in California, where I lived until 2000 before moving to Canada.

But Mr. Obama is showing up to be truly steadfast and on point. More and more I see him as our best hope to begin the years-long business of overcoming the neocon nightmare that began with Gingrich, Delay and their accomplices with their "Contract ON America".

I am disappointed (but not truly surprised, in retrospect) to see the Clinton campaign begin to throw away Democratic ideals and use tactics I would expect from the GOP. It''s like watching spoiled children become increasingly bratty when they don''t get their way.

Here''s to Barack and the "second American Camelot", it is now my hope to vote for him in November.