Last night, President Obama delivered what could be his last “State of the Union” address. As I stated in my last blog post, I’m not going to express my feelings about his policies or discuss politics. My goal is to analyze the elements within the speech. Here are my observations:
Length: Let’s get this one out of the way. The speech was long. And although it wasn’t boring, I doubt most people will be able to digest even half of what was said without going back to the transcript. If you’re looking for lessons in what not to do, this is one of them. I think the speech could have been shorter and still covered sufficient ground.
Opening: President Obama tends to start his “big” speeches with a story. Last night was no different. The story was quick, to the point and relevant to the speech. What was most effective was his praise of America’s Armed Forces. Regardless of where the audience stood on the political spectrum, there was no wavering on their gratitude to the soldiers who fight to protect America. By using the Armed Forces to establish common ground, Obama created a positive mood.
Understanding the mood of your audience and the mood you would like to create at the outset of your speech is crucial to the success of any speech, but it’s an area that is frequently ignored in the development of most speeches.
Theme: The theme of Obama’s speech was “Built to last”. He established it in the early moments of the speech and continued to refer to it throughout. Whether you like the theme or think it’s stupid is irrelevant. That you could clearly identify the theme and remember it after the speech finished is what matters. I immediately saw a pickup truck when Obama first used the phrase. I can’t believe his intention was for anything different to come to mind.
People Props: At certain points throughout the speech, Obama would tell the story of real people as examples of how America can be successful. As he told the stories, the camera would show those people sitting in the audience. If he had done it once, the tactic might have worked. But doing it again and again came across as being contrived. Bad move.
Statistics: Statistics can be tricky to use in speeches. The goal is always to make them support the points you are trying to make. And if statistics don’t support your points, avoid them at all costs. I think that’s what Obama was trying to do.
When he spat out numbers in the “Trillions”, he lost me. I don’t have a trillion dollars. I have no clue what it looks like. Obama needed to break down his numbers so the audience could understand how those numbers related to them.
What I did find quite clever was how Obama used a statistic without revealing the actual statistic. He said:
For less than one percent of what our Nation spends on education each year, we’ve convinced nearly every State in the country to raise their standards for teaching and learning – the first time that’s happened in a generation.
How much, exactly, is less than one percent? I have no clue. But my guess is that the exact number would sound extremely high to the average listener.
Closing: In my opinion, President Obama doesn’t close well. In this instance, his close started well, but he let it get away from him. He began by tying his close to his opening. Good move. But he didn’t take it far enough.
In his opening, opening Obama followed his praise of the troops by saying:
Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their example. Think about the America within our reach: A country that leads the world in educating its people. An America that attracts a new generation of high-tech manufacturing and high-paying jobs. A future where we’re in control of our own energy, and our security and prosperity aren’t so tied to unstable parts of the world. An economy built to last, where hard work pays off, and responsibility is rewarded.
Why not close the same way? After all, he was talking about how the troops were able to bring down Bin Laden because they worked together and trusted each other.
As it was, it sounded more like soaring rhetoric that never quite touched down or landed.
Overall Delivery: If you can make the State of the Union address sound inspiring, you’re doing something right. I think President Obama did many things right last night. Although he fumbled and seemed unsure on a few occasions, his overall delivery was strong, passionate and believable.
At times he came across as if he was having an intimate conversation with friends. Then he would switch to the role of boss telling the team to get him something now. Then he would switch to a college professor asking his students to give some serious thought before answering.
Fortunately, he only played the role of court jester once. The “spilled milk” line was just plain cheesy.
What did you think of the speech?
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