20 January 2009

Uncommon Commentary #36: The B.S. About B.O.

I certainly tire of hearing about the "charisma" and rhetorical gifts that Barack Obama supposedly has. As I have explained previously, I consider Obama's oratorical ability (which equates to "charisma" in the mind of the average person) to be unremarkable. Since I've never made any secret of my distaste for him, one might think that I'm merely allowing my feelings to prejudice my assessment of his putative skill, but one would be wrong. I don't admire John F. Kennedy either, but I find his "We choose to go to the Moon" speech stirring, even though I know that the true reason why we went to the Moon was simply to beat the Soviets there, and thereby reassure the electorate that we had technological superiority over the USSR. Kennedy knew how to create and deliver a memorable phrase; if Obama really has the same talent, it somehow just doesn't work on me.