Obama Shocker: He Uses Good Grammar

Obama's Use of  Complete Sentences Stirs Controversy: Stunning Break with Past Eight Years

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 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 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.

ANDY BOROWITZ

 

 

Comments

[John Maybury]

We have credited it to Andy Borowitz. His byline was inadvertently omitted on the initial posting.

[roxy]

love this article—too bad it doesnt belong to this website