Re: [xmca] Presidential Syntax a Shock

On this, see
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#27669754

( "worser" -- #2 of 3 )

On Wed, 19 Nov 2008 cconnery@ithaca.edu wrote:

>
> Hi all,
> Thought you'd enjoy the article below.
> Best,
> Cathrene
>
>
> Obama's Use of Complete Sentences Stirs Controversy
>
> Stunning Break with Last Eight Years
>
>
>
> Andy Borowitz
>
> Huffington Post
>
> November 18, 2008
>
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-borowitz/obamas-use-of-complete-se_b_144642.html
>
>
>
> In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack
>
> Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight
>
> years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political
>
> observers say.
>
>
>
> Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama's appearance on CBS'
>
> "Sixty Minutes" on Sunday witnessed the president-elect's unorthodox
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> verbal tick, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct
>
> sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.
>
>
>
> But Mr. Obama's decision to use complete sentences in his public
>
> pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last
>
> eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.
>
>
>
> According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of
>
> Minnesota, some Americans might find it "alienating" to have a
>
> President who speaks English as if it were his first language.
>
>
>
> "Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in
>
> agreement," says Mr. Logsdon. "If he keeps it up, he is running the
>
> risk of sounding like an elitist."
>
>
>
> The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete
>
> sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, "Okay,
>
> subject, predicate, subject predicate - we get it, stop showing off."
>
>
>
> The President-elect's stubborn insistence on using complete sentences
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> has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov.
>
> Sarah Palin of Alaska.
>
>
>
> "Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way
>
> that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder
>
> can't really do there, I think needing to do that isn't tapping into
>
> what Americans are needing also," she said.
>
>
>
>
>
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>

Tony Whitson
UD School of Education
NEWARK DE 19716

twhitson@udel.edu
_______________________________

"those who fail to reread
  are obliged to read the same story everywhere"
                   -- Roland Barthes, S/Z (1970)
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Received on Wed Nov 19 16:27:45 2008