Pundit Wire

Tag Archives: President Barack Obama

The Death of Ambassador Chris Stevens: Honesty and Accuracy

President Obama UN Speech One question I put into my Speechwriting training courses (and into any course I give) is this:

What is the Supreme Quality in any piece of professional work such as a speech? Choose from the following options:

  • Simple message
  • Strong structure
  • Accuracy
  • Loyalty
  • Energy + commitment
  • Clear language
  • Honesty + integrity
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Posted in Campaigns & Elections, General, International, National Security, Political Rhetoric, Politics, U.S. | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Obamacare Prescription: Keep Calm and Carry On

President Obama signing the Affordable Care Act There’s growing angst in the health reform community that Obamacare is not succeeding as it should. Perhaps that’s nothing more than a response to the growing popularity of immigration and tax reform.

The basic premise of the complaint, as I understand it, is that the infrastructure is not as far along as some would like, which may lead to confusion when major elements become effective next year, that Americans remain ambivalent about the bill because they don’t know what it does for them and that this lack of enthusiasm – coupled with continued GOP opposition – will yield a bad result in Congressional elections next year.

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Posted in General, Health, Politics, U.S. | Also tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

“Reject These Voices”: Obama’s Ohio State Offensive

OSU Commencement_Official White House Photo by Pete Souza_thumb Commencement addresses are tricky for the political speechwriter. The audience is young and distracted. They did not come to see the speaker, a politician who is never more than a sentence away from a flash-mob eyeroll.

President Barack Obama found a way around this dilemma. His commencement address Sunday at the Ohio State University was a full-throated defense of his political agenda, backed by an attack on his opponents as un-American. He carefully built up strawmen, then casually torched them in his insouciant style.

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My Memories of the George W. Bush Presidency

Pres. George W. Bush Library Dedication Following the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, here are a few memories off the top of my head:

  • The photo of Jenna and Barbara at their dad’s Inauguration, beaming proudly through the wind and rain.
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    Posted in General, U.S. | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

    Remembering Margaret Thatcher

    Margaret Thatcher Portrait Several years back I had the great pleasure of taking part in a small private dinner at which Baroness Thatcher was the guest of honour.

    By then she was frail but still well able to capture the table with some steely wit and insight. I was struck by how often she cited her Christian beliefs, mustering a heartening consensus that Jesus had been more than ‘sound’ in his stout conservative principles.

    As the dinner concluded she wistfully said that she was so grateful to have such friends who appreciated her work, “No-one ever says thank you to politicians.”

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    Posted in General, International | Also tagged , , , | Leave a comment

    Conservatives Vow Outreach To “Welfare-Taking, Job-Killing” Hispanics

    Rep. Don Young WASHINGTON D.C. — Conservatives in Washington, still smarting over their electoral defeat in November, held a conference Tuesday to offer new strategies to attract the votes of the Hispanic community.

    The forum, entitled “Reaching Out: Sharing the Message of Liberty With All Americans,” was simulcast on C-SPAN.

    “Our message is simple: it’s freedom and economic opportunity,” said Robert “Red” Flange, author of the best-selling book “Invaders: Why We Continue to Welcome Terrorists and Criminals to Our Shores.”

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    Posted in General, Media, Political Rhetoric, U.S. | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

    Just Say No to Musty, Needy Speeches

    David Miliband America! Brace yourself! David Miliband is coming to New York to lead the International Rescue Committee.

    David Miliband is hailed in British and wider progressive circles as someone with preternaturally high mental powers. On my own brief encounters with him I have found him charming and clever. However, he had the misfortune to serve as UK Foreign Secretary under the doomed premiership of Gordon Brown, and as the creaking Labour ship pushed full steam ahead to defeat he had few opportunities to do anything useful.

    One of the things you nonetheless might expect a staggeringly able British Foreign Minister to do is make powerful, interesting speeches.

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    Posted in General, International, Political Rhetoric, U.S. | Also tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

    The Language of International Friendship: President Obama in Israel

    President Obama in Israel Some issues really are “binary.” Take the Judgement of Solomon. Two women each claimed that a baby belonged to them. King Solomon of Israel proposed to cut the baby in two pieces, an outcome the false mother accepted.

    Babies are either dead or alive. Under international law states either exist or they don’t. If they exist they either have clear, accepted borders, or they don’t.

    There are exceptions and anomalies. But the toughest problems of international politics arise around these simple propositions.

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    Posted in General, International, U.S. | Also tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment