It is no news now, but on Tuesday last week, President Obama delivered the least effective Oval Office address since Jimmy Carter’s “malaise” speech. Why?
It wasn’t just the awkward use of his hands, the hackneyed and inappropriate wartime metaphors, the equally banal “if we could land a man on the moon” drivel. All that was bad enough, but more devastating was the gulf between obvious fact and the speech’s fiction. Read
Summer is the season of vacations. And for many Americans, time spent away in the mountains, lakes, and oceans is where families reunite, make memories and establish traditions. Having just returned from a vacation with my own family, I’m reminded that vacationing in the United States has a distinct history that dates back to the early 19th century.
As historian Cindy Aron recounts in her book Working at Play: A History of Vacations in the United States, the rise of vacations in America is “embedded in a familiar history of the United States,” as we shifted from an agrarian to an industrial nation, developed of a mass-transportation system, and saw the rise of the middle class. But what’s more interesting about the American story of vacationing is what Aron describes as the “love/hate battle” Americans have with vacations. Read
The summer hasn’t started out so well for President Obama. He has suffered a constant barrage from critics on both the right and the left who claim he has failed to show leadership when it comes to the Gulf oil spill. Not surprisingly, with all this hostility, the president’s poll numbers have started to slip.
Now, mid-June, Gallup finds that the President’s job approval rating is 46 percent. Just two days after the President’s Oval Office address, Rasmussen Reports found 61 percent of voters “view the president’s handling of the oil leak crisis as poor.”
Near double-digit unemployment, robust opposition to the health care overhaul, an unrelenting war in Afghanistan, and now the BP oil spill has generated consistent bad press for the president. More and more, his critics claim he is ineffectual. Read
I’m a big fan of Broadway shows. So I should enjoy the Tony Awards show. And I do — last night’s show had particularly good performances from La Cage, Memphis and Million-Dollar Quartet. But something always bothers me about the Tonys. More than any of the other award ceremonies – the Oscar, the Emmy, the Grammy, even the MTV Awards – the Tony is an “insider” occasion. The speeches of presenters and award winners both are laced with inside references, and even more with insider “emotions” — a frequent assumption that everyone listening to them understands their cultural references, and maybe even that those who don’t understand don’t count.
It’s easy to understand the homogeneous nature of the Broadway community. They work hard to get to the top — usually a lot harder than in the other popular entertainment forms — and the financial rewards and recognition generally don’t match movies, TV etc. Read
Who said spin is just for politicians?
A new movement to reinvent the modern American cemetery is making its way across the country. According to news reports, burial grounds are tired of their teary-eyed reputation, so they’re shedding this forbidding face for something a little, well, livelier.
When it comes down to it, it’s all a matter of perspective. As one Colorado cemetery manager told a local reporter, “People come to cemeteries, and they are always looking down.” But if they looked up, they might notice the century old history, plant life and culture that infuse the graveyard.
The trend is not simply to offer tours, like the ones you can arrange at cemeteries like Père Lachaise in Paris or Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, DC. Instead it’s to turn the focus away from death and toward – for lack of a better word – life.
Fireworks, jazz concerts, and art exhibits are some of the kinds of social events cemeteries are planning to help draw in visitors. Friends will be encouraged to take pleasure in the historic trees and rose gardens that flank many burial grounds. And many cemeteries are hoping to be a place where communities can gather in times of joy, rather than sorrow.
In Washington, we might call it spin. But cemeteries are refashioning themselves in a new light – hoping they can be a place of solemnity, as well as inspiration.
The White House has an entire office devoted to protocol, led by the social secretary, to oversee every White House function from bill signings to state dinners.
So what’s the protocol when it comes to giving a speech in the rain? Well, that depends on just how much rain is in the forecast.
Torrential downpours and crashing thunder at Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Illinois yesterday (literally) drowned out President Obama’s Memorial Day remarks. Read
Whenever a U.S. official speaks with a foreign diplomat, there’s always the chance that something will be lost in translation.
But there wasn’t much to misinterpret about Steve Posner’s comments to Chinese officials last week.
During two days of talks about human rights, the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy Human Rights and Labor thought he could break the ice by citing the recent Arizona immigration law as an example of “racial discrimination” here in the United States:
“We brought it up early and often. It was mentioned in the first session and as a troubling trend in our society, and an indication that we have to deal with issues of discrimination or potential discrimination. And these are issues very much being debated in our own society.”
Perhaps the comments put China at ease, but it certainly upset Americans here at home, considering China ranks among the worst human rights violators in the world.
An important lesson to remember when using a speechwriter is you only want to hire them for a speech – not a retraction.
Last night I attended the Cato Institute’s biennial dinner where they present the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty to someone who has made a significant contribution to individual freedom. This year the award was given to an Iranian dissident, Akbar Ganji, who spent many years in solitary confinement in an Iranian prison.
There to talk about freedom at large – and the threats posed to our freedom today – was columnist George Will. And he was a hit. Left at home was his dry television persona, and on prominent display was his dexterity with words. He drew his audience in and kept them there for no less than 20 minutes. He had an endless supply of phrases that perfectly captured his ideas.
Here are a few of my favorite lines he used to describe the current state of government in America:
“Learned feudalism”
“Gridlock is not an American problem, it’s an American achievement.”
“Glutinous feast on the flesh of the future.”
No matter one’s opinion on the state of politics today, there’s no denying Will’s way with words makes his argument worth listening to.
Being invited to host the White House Correspondents Association Dinner seems like a great honor, but Jay Leno may tell you it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
While it’s become customary for the president and vice president to attend the WHCAD, it looks like Tonight Show host Jay Leno got a run for his money, following what critics claim was a slam dunk performance by President Obama.
Making people laugh seems like an easy way to break the ice, but using humor in a speech is not for everyone – and it can certainly be a challenge to write. Perhaps that’s why speech-writing guide Joan Detz devotes an entire chapter to humor in her famous book How to Write and Give a Speech.
A cautionary tale: Just this week National Security Advisor Gen. James Jones began a speech to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy with a somewhat off-color joke. His “funny anecdote” that he used to start the speech is now all over the Internet, raising concerns that he relied on anti-Semitic stereotypes for a laugh. Read