Kerry and Obama -- they both intellectualize and distance themselves from [View All]

themselves when they talk. This was the reason that Kerry could not connect as well with people as Bush could. Kerry talks in the abstract. So does Obama. That is why Kerry likes Obama. Kerry hears his own language in Obama's language.

I prefer John Edwards' direct, concrete evocation of imagery when he talks. Edwards is actually the more intellectually flexible and the quickest of the lot to respond to questions and others' ideas. But Edwards is much more direct in his response. Just compare the language of their speeches.

Here is Obama

You said the time has come to move beyond the bitterness and pettiness and anger that's consumed Washington.

To end the political strategy that's been all about division, and instead make it about addition. To build a coalition for change that stretches through red states and blue states.

Because that's how we'll win in November, and that's how we'll finally meet the challenges that we face as a nation.

We are choosing hope over fear.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/politics/ny-usobam0105-transcript,0,7073760.story


Inside Politics
Transcript: Kerry's Super Tuesday speech

Wednesday, March 3, 2004 Posted: 12:04 AM EST (0504 GMT)



For more than 30 years, I've been on the battle lines, on the frontlines of the struggle for fairness and for mainstream American values. And in 2004, I pledge we will tell the truth about what has happened in our country. And we will fight to give America back its future and its hope.

There are powerful forces that want America to continue on exactly the path that it's on today. And there are also millions of Americans who are hurt by the policies that favor the few, who doubt whether government once again can work for them.

Millions more live in fear every day that they will lose their jobs or lose their health care or lose their pensions. My campaign, our campaign, is about replacing doubt with hope and replacing fear with security.

Together we are going to build a strong foundation for growth by repealing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and investing in education and health care.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/03/02/elec04.prez.kerry.transcript/index.html

We are going to rise up. We're going to create an America that all of us believe in, because the truth is, when we speak up, when we speak up for James Lowe and the millions like him who live in the darkness, when we speak up against corporate greed and for the 37 million Americans who live in poverty, when we speak up for single moms who have no place to live with their children, when we speak up for hundreds of thousands of veterans who served this country proudly and are homeless, with no place to live at night, when we do that together, as a nation -- and Iowa caucus-goers did it tonight -- when we do it, America is a better place.

It says something about who we are. It says something about our character, because, when we do, America rises up. America becomes what it's capable of being.

And what began -- and it is not over -- what began tonight in the heartland of America is , the Iowa caucus-goers said, enough is enough. We are better than this. We are going to bring the change that this country needs. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

J. EDWARDS: And you have created and started a wave of change, a tidal wave of change, that will travel from here to New Hampshire, to Nevada, to South Carolina, all across this country...

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

J. EDWARDS: ... because we know the torch has been passed to us. We stand proudly on the shoulders of our parents and grandparents and all those generations who came before us. And we take our responsibility seriously.

And this tidal wave of change that began tonight in Iowa and that will sweep across America, when that wave is finished, when it is done, every one of us are going to be able to look our children in the eye and say, we did what our parents did for us and what our grandparents did for us, which is, we left America better than we found it, and we gave our children a better life than we had.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0801/03/se.03.html

(Look way down at the end of the page. The speech is not divided into paragraphs.)

Notice how Edwards does not use intellectual, abstract words to summarize facts. He states the facts. He tells stories. He uses action verbs that create a sense of movement. Edwards' language is far, far, far more real and effective than either Kerry's or Obama's. Kerry and Obama have great voices. Obama speaks with the intonation and rhythm of a gospel preacher, and that is entrancing. But Edwards moves us to action. Edwards defeats the arguments of his opponents with the facts.

Obama would say: There's a lot of hunger out there, and I will propose a program to defeat hunger.

Edwards says: 37 million Americans go hungry.

Obama says: We will do something about homelessness.

Edwards says: Single moms have no place to live with their children. We are going to change that.

Kerry and Obama are both good senators. They think in terms of programs. But, the American people get tired of hearing ideas expressed in abstracts. That is a European way to express ideas. Americans want action and they want action language.

Watch European movies. The characters talk a lot. Watch American movies. The stories are told in action. Americans think in action. The American language is verbs, one after the other. Kerry and Obama speak a sophisticated English that many Americans don't really understand. Kerry and Obama are Ivy League.

Edwards talks and thinks American. He is not an ivy league scholar.

So it is understandable that Kerry would endorse Obama. They speak the same language. It happens to be the language of a lot of DUers. But it is not the language of middle America. Edwards speaks American. I'm backing Edwards. He is our best bet for the White House.