From New American Media
March 4, 2008
Obama: Return of the Great Orator?
By John Han
Barack Obama's message of change has been resonating with more and more voters, even converting some Republicans into Obama-cans. His victory speeches after the primaries have been downloaded thousands of times from YouTube. Some say that when it comes to speeches, he ranks right up there with John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr....
But others say it would be wrong to club Obama with the great black preachers....
"There's no place for oratory in modern American politics," agrees linguist Geoffrey Nunberg. "Television killed it. The mood of the country killed it. And we just don't trust language in that way. So I don't think there's any oratory left in American politics."
"Oratory implies a very high flown, rich, metaphorical, eloquent, kind of diction," says Nunberg, professor of linguistics at the Berkeley School of Information. "Obama's a great speaker. I just don't think he's a great orator. I don't think that's the relevant term."...
"Oratory is this kind of illustrative metaphor and words, coupled with a strong and often a fervent, emotional delivery, hands waving and all," says Nunberg. "Obama's speeches, by contrast, are almost plain, simple and to the point," says Nunberg. He credits Obama's success to characteristics more common to what he categorizes as that of great speakers rather than orators: He speaks with confidence and conviction, yet is slightly distanced from his own words, showing conservatism, and a sense of control over his emotions. That "coolness" is a kind of quality Nunberg says seems to be appealing to modern voters....