There's very few people who do any amount of public speaking these days that are pleasant to listen to or have anything to say. One of the few exceptions is Barack Obama. The Illinois Senator seems to have singlehandedly revived the traidition of being a great orator, something that just plain died in the public space some time in the last 30 or 40 years.
The two most recent reminders of his skill that I've seen are his commencement address at Knox College and his essay about Abraham Lincoln for Time. There's more speeches of his to seek out, but what gives me more hope is that we'll be hearing more of him in the future. I'm hoping it inspires at least a few other people in public life to try to be better speakers as well.
Anil, thousands of librarians had the pleasure of Obama's oratory at the recent American Library Association conference in Chicago. I live-blogged the talk at a conference blog... http://litablog.org/?p=51 . What a privilege to hear him speak.
Barack is very good. But I'll still take Mario Cuomo in a contest. Nobody's been better than Mario over the past 20 years. Just too bad he wasn't as effective a governor as he is an orator.
Barack appears to be genuine, which is one thing that puts him above most.
It's good writing, but I think the commencement address should be flagged NotForLimeys. (One or two things have happened here since the time of King George - my prospects aren't 'limited by the throne' as far as I'm aware.)
Obama may be a good orator, but I doubt his sincerity. I think he's just like "Uncle Tom." He says what the Democratic plantation owners think he should say.
Obama may be a good orator, but I think he is the antichrist.
it's a nice blog.But i don't know the meaning of Obama.
Obama is hardly a great orator. He's a lecturer, not an orator, and I have seen him in person twice.
No, Mario Cuomo is the greatest orator alive and probably the greatest in American history. There is no contest.