What do you think of Obama as an orator?

He’s pretty good, better than GW by far.

Honestly, I think it’s fairly important that our Commander In Chief communicate well.

Kennedy and Clinton both were fairly eloquent at times.

It’s definitely the ace up his sleeve & yeah, in the increasingly media driven, age of the sound bite, it’s a great card to play.

He’s good.

He’s good, although it’s possible that after listening to GWB speak I now have incredibly low standards and am easily impressed. I do find the pauses a bit irritating, but then I tend to speak pretty quickly.

What I do find distressing is that the state of our education system has resulted in a simplification of our state of the Union addresses.

It certainly doesn’t hurt.

@syz He always kind of looks mad, too. Or is that just my perception?

@KNOWITALL I’ve only seen him visibly mad twice now, but I’d be damn mad if I had to work with those asshats in Congress.

Sometimes he IS mad @KNOWITALL.
GA @syz.

He used to whistle his S’s at one point, made me laugh every time, he sounded like the beaver in Lady & the Tramp.

In my opinion Obama is just mediocre compared to Bill Clinton’s silver tongue.

They all read off of cue cards. How hard can it be?

It’s the emotion and inflection they use that makes a person a good orator. That’s the difference between a mediocre actor and an awesome actor.

@ragingloli: Have you ever been in a class where the teacher reads directly from the text. Often monotone. Never inspiring.

It’s all in the delivery. How you inhabit the words with empathy and import.

But then, you’re from another planet.

LOL!

@cookieman
And I do not come in peace.

We know that, Raggy!

My partner and I were just talking about this a few days ago. It was after he talked to the public about the Boston tragedy. We both think he’s an amazing orator. It’s nice to see/hear. He gives off an air of intelligence which was badly needed for the American reputation. GWB made the USA seem stupid, imo.

I could listen to Obama talk all day, so I’ll go with yes.

Tedious, tendentious, tiresome and trite. And that’s just the alliteration of one letter. Oh, I forgot “teleprompted”.

If I needed an orator, I’d hire him in a minute!

@ragingloli: Yes, but you’ll leave in pieces. :^)

@cookieman
No, I will leave with yours.

I believe the morbidly obese @ragingloli means the entire contents of your fridges will be taken to the cellar where it resides.

Obama is a very charming and charismatic speaker. His delivery is exceptional. His speech writers are very good. He can really inspire a crowd and knows all the feel-good platitudes and rhetoric that get Americans whooping and hollering.

Please note that I detest Obama. I think he’s a war criminal and corporate lackey—as bad if not even worse than his predecessor. His ability to make an audience swoon is as impressive as it is insidious. Style over content, designed to manipulate people’s attitudes and perceptions. Obama is a masterpiece of marketing and public relations in the goal of serving corporate and elite interests.

I’ve never understood the praise Obama gets for his speechmaking. I think he writes very good speeches. But his delivery is stilted and forced. He only looks good compared to GWB. Clinton and Reagan were much better speakers than Obama.

@Kropotkin I think I just fell in love after that post- lol

Obama speaks well, but I have begun to suspect his sincerity.

@Linda_Owl He’s pretty beat up.

I don’t think he is comfortable with public speaking and he is only an adequate orator. He is much better than some of his predecessors who were too stupid to realise how bad they were but he is not one of the greats.

I like Obama at personal and political levels, but I think his speech delivery is wooden. Even when he is being emotional, it comes off to me as being too controlled.

Of the presidents that I have heard, Kennedy and Clinton were great speakers. Reagan might have also been a great speaker, but my dislike of him kept me from appreciating any oratory skills he might have had. All the rest were pretty awful – LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter and the Bushes. Ford had one great line, which he delivered perfectly. “I am a Ford, not a Lincoln.” Pretty much said it all.

Kennedy….