Obama Adding Detail to His Oratory

[babylonsister]

Obama Adding Detail to His Oratory
Rick Bowmer/Associated Press

Barack Obama, shown at a rally Saturday in Wisconsin, is injecting more specifics into speeches.

By JEFF ZELENY
Published: February 17, 2008


EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — If he does say so himself, Senator Barack Obama delivers a fine political speech.

“Don’t be fooled by this talk about speeches versus solutions,” Mr. Obama told a crowd of Wisconsin voters. “It’s true, I give a good speech. What do I do? Nothing wrong with that.”

To that confident strain of self-assessment, the audience roared with approval.

A shrug of the shoulders and a few deadpanned retorts, some of which stop just shy of mocking his rival, is the latest approach Mr. Obama has taken to respond to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s criticism that his words offer more poetry than substance.

Yet as he traveled across Wisconsin last week, Mr. Obama seemed to have let loose a little more of his inner-wonk, which his strategists had once urged him to keep on the shelf.

Even as he was dismissing Mrs. Clinton’s criticism, he appeared to be taking it at least mildly to heart — a suggestion that as a line of attack, she might be on to something.

Suddenly, he was injecting a few more specifics into his campaign speeches. Giant rallies that had sustained his candidacy through a coast-to-coast series of contests on Feb. 5, notable for their rhetorical flourishes and big applause lines, were supplemented with policy speeches and town-hall-style meetings, complete with the question-and-answer sessions he abandoned as he roared out of Iowa and into New Hampshire. (In hindsight, he conceded as he reviewed a defeat to Mrs. Clinton, that was a mistake.)

By every indication, this was not a random change in the Obama style. The senator decided to clue in his audience to the shift on a recent morning in Janesville, Wis., where he presented an economic proposal to create seven million jobs over the next decade.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/us/politics/17obama.html?em&ex=1203397200&en=e698d6284630976f&ei=5087%0A

[Adelante]

1. I always found his speeches plenty detailed

But every week for months and months it seems I'm reading about how he is "suddenly" adding details -- just like he's "suddenly" talking populism. I've been hearing those things all along, or I probably wouldn't have started supporting him in the first place.

[babylonsister]

2. More has been asked for by the media, he is providing it. I think

it's a smart move on his part. By now he should have his issues down pat.

[sandnsea]

3. And the article still doesn't list any

But I guess if they're at least saying he has solutions, maybe that's good enough.

[Iris]

6. thank you!

My, God! I was beginning to question my reading comprehension skills. The more I look for something from this man, the more frustrated I become.

[sandnsea]

11. Oh lord never underestimate the stupidity

of a Clinton supporter.

Just because the reporter doesn't list Obama's solutions, it DOES NOT mean Obama doesn't talk about them in every speech.

I am so sick of people who will just say any fucking thing to launch an attack, no matter what kind of ignorant fool they end up looking like.

[Iris]

13. well, you'd think there'd be at least ONE example of something specific in his speech.

It's poor writing, not really Obama's fault, but it's still another case of nothing being there.

[babylonsister]

12. As I've said, you're not looking hard enough, or reading, but I suspect

that's not your intent anyway. So stop asking for answers.

[mopinko]

4. easy enough to do.

he has clear ideas, they roll off his tongue.

[loveangelc]

5. I never found Hillary's speeches anymore detailed than Obama's...

[rodeodance]

7. HA Ha NEWS BREAK--Obama follows Hillary--adding substance. YEAH

[babylonsister]

14. Aren't you the one who spoke those infamous words, 'don't poop on my thread?' nt

[rodeodance]

15. this is a duzy~~ I am still laughing. bye

[zulchzulu]

8. The WI speech the other night was very detailed yet a rally speech

That's a hard mix to do without getting too wonkish. His speech on Saturday night was fantastic.

[rodeodance]

9. Just think--this is big enough for NYTimes to have a news article. ha ha ha

[Skip Intro]

10. Heads are being scratched over in Obamaland. Details? Huh?

sorry, couln't pass that up

;)

[Cha]

16. I see it as a kind of evolution

and not just talking about the same thing all the time..but that's just moi.

"David Obey, Democrat of Wisconsin, is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and respected on Capitol Hill as being among the small share of lawmakers intricately familiar with the federal budget. Mr. Obey said he was more than comfortable with Mr. Obama’s grasp of substance.

“If I weren’t, I wouldn’t have endorsed him,” Mr. Obey said Saturday. “You can’t make much headway on substance until you have somebody who can break through the rancorous atmosphere, build new alliances and cut through old barriers.”

I heard the town hall meeting in Kaukauna was cancelled due to extreme weather..too bad!

[babylonsister]

17. That was a great quote from Obey.

And enlighten me: where is Kaukauna? Sounds Hawaiian, but ??? Wisconsin, right?

[Cha]

18. I thought it sounded Hawaiian too..

but it was at the end of the article and I read on Obama's site earlier that it had been cancelled due to said extreme weather..15 degrees and blowing!

Must a name from the Winnebago Indians who were originally there.