The power of language
Barack Obama cares about language. His respect for it is evident, and his awareness of its power will be on display and tested today, more than ever. Reading his memoir, Dreams of My Father, it is obvious that throughout his life Obama has turned to books to acquire insight, and his rise to prominence has in large part been built on his skills as an orator. I was struck by Philip Collins' (Tony Blair's former speech writer) dissection of classic rhetoric in this month's magazine. He says that Obama at his absolute best "combines a poetic form of expression with a poetic compression of meaning, while rarely straying from ordinary language. His speeches do take wing, but the flight comes from the rhythm of the sentences as much as the elevation of the language".
Much has already been made of the self conscious parallels between Obama and the 16th President, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln's ability to move with ease from the heightened and magisterial to the ordinary in his speeches has clearly been a model for Obama. He has admitted he frequently re-reads Lincoln and has been intimidated by his speeches. It is also true that like Obama, Lincoln was a lifelong lover of books. More importantly, he was shaped by what he read, most notably, the Bible and Shakespeare, both of which honed his poetic use of language, as well as his philosophical view of the world. In Fred Kaplan's new biography (Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer), the author examines how Lincoln uses language as a tool to explore and define himself.
This goes to the heart of what informs Barack Obama and his eclectic literary tastes. This idea of self creation is a singularly American one, and deeply rooted in so much of its literature, so, not surprisingly, it has a hold on Obama's imagination. He said in magazine, just a year after he came to prominence at the 2004 Democratic Convention, that the humble beginnings he shared with Lincoln, reminded him of a larger, fundamental element of American life - the enduring belief that we can constantly remake ourselves to fit our larger dreams.
Through his personal story and as a reader of all those great African American writers, from W E B DuBois, to Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison and James Baldwin (to name only a few), Obama understands dislocation, but also sees with a profound clarity that in knowledge lies the freedom to invent a new self. And he has done so, creating a potent symbol of hope for his country, and the wider world.
In writing his speech for today, he has been helped by the youngest chief speech writer in Whitehouse history, 27-year-old Jon Favreau, who Obama describes as his "mind reader". Good speechwriters understand language and have to be in command of it, but great ones understand the context in which it is spoken. More than one billion people on the planet will be listening to Barack Obama today; I have little doubt that the moment will be full of soaring cadences coupled with a great deal of substance.
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Comment number 1.
At 20th Jan 2009, bighullabaloo wrote:"Barack Obama cares about language. His respect for it is evident, and his awareness of its power will be on display and tested today, more than ever."
Pity he didn't care enough about language to be able to repeat back three lines properly at his inauguration ceremony. When he dried up in the middle it was embarrassing.
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Comment number 2.
At 20th Jan 2009, U13791089 wrote:Good article! The power of language is underestimated (at the risk of being a grumpy old man) especially by the younger generation. Little can be as stimulating as an intelligent, cogent delivery whether using language created by an impossibly precocious speech writer or an English playwright dead some 400 years.
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Comment number 3.
At 20th Jan 2009, tone1201 wrote:Well Razia, by now you'll know that your final prediction was wrong. Obama gave a lacklustre and disappointing speech packed with platitudes and waffle. When will the ´óÏó´«Ã½ (Obama's main international cheerleaders) admit that he has nothing to say, no record to defend, no experience to offer, and no convictions to have any courage in.
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Comment number 4.
At 20th Jan 2009, Euphronius wrote:hullabaloo,
I don't believe Pres. Obama "dried up" exactly, but rather was taken aback by Justice Roberts' misquote of the oath. He hesitated a second (no doubt he is familiar with the correct wording), and Justice Roberts reread the words of the oath correctly, and both carried on.
No doubt nitpickers were sniggering, but do you think it would have been better for the President to take a wrong oath and further feed the delusions of those who still wish to believe he is a Muslim, born in Kenya, who is not a "real" President?
If that is all you took from today, I'm afraid you wasted it.
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Comment number 5.
At 21st Jan 2009, dennisjunior1 wrote:Razia:
President Obama, has an excellent grip on the language and; he will be a great communicator in the United States and the rest of the World....
~Dennis Junior~
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Comment number 6.
At 22nd Jan 2009, SheffTim wrote:The Gettysburg Address had a mixed reception at the time; a reporter's opinions on the war and Lincoln clearly influenced their opinion of the speech. e.g.
"We know not where to look for a more admirable speech than the brief one which the President made. It is often said that the hardest thing in the world is to make a five minute speech. But could the most elaborate and splendid oration be more beautiful, more touching, more inspiring than those few words of the President?" Providence Daily Journal
"The ceremony was rendered ludicrous by some of the sallies of that poor President Lincoln. Anything more dull and commonplace it would not be easy to produce." London Times
But Lincoln's speech still reads well and I can imagine it being spoken by Churchill or Luther King, both masters of speech making:
"But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate, we can not hallow - this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here."
It is a pity that there is no recording of Lincoln's public speeches. Great oratory is not just in the choice of words and structure of the text but more in their delivery. Great speeches speak directly to the emotions of the audience and influence their mood and actions in response. From 'We shall fight on the beaches' to 'I have a dream'.
Obama has done well in electioneering (two speeches are classic: 'Yes We Can' and 'Our Moment Is Now'), to put it mildly, but his potential may only be fully realised in a future response to a crisis.
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Comment number 7.
At 25th Jan 2009, tediouslybrief wrote:I have noticed quite a few people complain that President Obama's inauguration speech lacked the big rhetoric and poetic resonance he has shown himself capable of on earlier occasions.
Rhetoric may have its uses, but what has been most lacking in American politics for the last two terms has been plainspeaking, honesty and relevance.
President Obama was right to give truth precedence over feelgood oratory.
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