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State of the Union 2011- A media trainer’s analysis of President Obama’s performance
I believe that this speech will be very well received by the American public. Obama came across as statesmanlike, above the fray and very much a unifier. He communicated well at the emotional level with a tone that was optimistic and upbeat.
Overall I give him a B+. On style and the mechanics of speaking he is without peer. As always, he came across comfortable, confident and engaging. Obama had very few stumbles during the speech. President George W. Bush had more stumbles in the first two minutes of most of his speeches than Obama had in a 1:15 speech.
He uses his voice to great effect. Sometimes speaking forcefully and with authority and other times in a whisper. This speech also highlighted his great use of stories to communicate messages.
President Obama’s 2011 State of the Union address was different than most other State of the Union speeches we have grown accustomed to over the last few decades. It was much less policy driven with far fewer initiatives proposed than what we would normally expect. It was less of a point-by-point walk through reminiscent of past Bill Clinton addresses and struck more of a motivational tone.
With a lot of focus during the first two-thirds of the speech on the future, Obama did leave himself open to criticism that he did not present his agenda for the legislative sessions of 2011 and 2012. Much of that first two-thirds of his speech was spent in a defense of government and I am sure drew cheers from his core Democratic activist base watching at home.
Applause and cheers rang out from Democrats as Obama laid out a forceful defense of government, outlined his plans for health care, government regulation and of how the government can provide a helping hand to people.
For the first 47 minutes of his speech the president did not touch on any conservative themes until an about face with talk of cutting spending and cutting deficits. I am sure this made some liberal commentators and columnists like Paul Krugman want to pull their hair out as the country is still gripped by a depression that has only loosened its grip ever so slightly.
I anticipate this position will lose him a lot of points on the liberal side of the pundit isle but will win him points with the American public, especially conservatives who are looking to pounce on Obama on every and any issue.
One fault I can lay at the feet of Obama and his speechwriters is that I did not hear a lot of memorable phrases or sound bites from this speech. Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy were terrific with that and I thought that was lacking from Obama. I did not hear any clunkers but the lack of take away moments and easily digestible highlights is something that Obama has employed in the past but came up short on tonight.
There was one interesting moment early in the speech that I am sure conservatives will have a field day with. Obama’s one verbal stumble came when he could not get the words “tax cut” out of his mouth very smoothly. Some of his detractors I am sure will have a field day with that.
As the news cycle begins to analyze and poll the American public on this speech I think a certain level of appreciation will settle in from most people who will see it as refreshing that their leader was able to speak in an optimistic, confident and authoritative manner.
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[...] full post on Small Business and Entrepreneur News Social tagging: 2011 > Analysis > Forbes > Media > Obama's > Performance > president > State > [...]
Not much was said in the open sequence of President Obama’s State of the Union speech, relating to the mass invasion of illegal invaders. He described the crash of the Dream Act not being enacted, but nothing about the undercurrent of who pays for it, or immigration law allowing millions of more family members entering under the Chain Migration sponsorship. My attitude on illegal immigration doesn’t really matter as a blogger, however my deep rooted investigation of the truth does? There are hundreds of authentic reports on the Internet with a reality view of Congressional spending that includes States. Politicians like Sen. Harry Reid are the main cause of this nation’s demise through catering to the occupation of foreign intruders and stifling the use of a mandatory E-Verify employee verification program. These reports and articles come from not only Liberal sources, but the commercial and government archives. The American people complain all the time about the porous border, the Dream Act, Amnesty, Sanctuary cities and the mass emergence that are straining our welfare system for the instant citizenship of babies of illegal parents. Sanctuary states like California are truly in a terrible way, because the Sacramento Lib-Democrats have done nothing to stop welfare fraud and financial support of illegal immigrants.
In the past two years, as unemployment remained near 10 percent, more than 1 million immigrants, of whom 35 percent were undocumented or illegal, have gotten work in this country. The story is that in the past two years, U.S. business owners have chosen to go for discount immigrant help, while the economy as a hole has shed millions of jobs for U.S. workers. California has a 26 billion dollar drain in this once flourishing state, caused by the malfunction of ICE and homeland Security to remove the infestation of illegal families. The Federation for American Immigration Reform estimates that the cost of illegal immigration to the states stands at about $113 billion, with nearly half that amount going to education costs. It’s easily explained as one illegal worker slips past the border patrol, rents a home and then the whole family comes over the border. Then there is the problem with entry via a tourist or student visa, but with no intentions to return to their nation of birth.
The main culprits in entitlement programs are education for infants through k-12, the birthright citizenship law of the 14th amendment, the free hospital emergency room that has become a visit for sore throats and common flue. These subsidizing public services are by no means the limit to pandering to the illegal immigration invasion. Another massive disbursement is the criminal sewer rats, which also have made their way from our Southern border and even European countries. Last week, the Los Angeles County supervisor , Michael Antonovich, , released new statistics showing welfare costs for the children of illegal immigrants cost the county $600 million last year, up from $570 million in 2009, as reported by Fox News. Going beyond the cost of food stamps and welfare-style benefits through the state program CalWORKS to include the expenses of public safety and health care, the total cost for illegal immigrants to Los Angeles taxpayers for 2010 was more than $1.6 billion, not including education costs. Last week, the California Department of Education released data demonstrating that for the first time Latinos now make up the majority of California’s public school students, cracking the 50 percent barrier for the first time in state history, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Illegal aliens are reducing the retirement payments, pensions to our old folk. At http://www.rense.com/general79/seniors.htm According to the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons Volume 10 Number 1 spring 2005 (the report on Illegal Aliens and American medicine) http://www.jpands.org/vol10no1/cosman.pdf defines the issue as a monolithic non-reimbursement concern of hurting hospitals across the United States. Illegal aliens are costing more than the prior Iraqi war as seen here, http://www.rense.com/general80/mroe.htm There reports are just the tip of the iceberg. Removing illegal immigrants from America that we are feeding, housing and giving free hospital access, would go a very long way in saving bankruptcies in state treasuries and the federal failure of placing American taxpayers before nationals of other corrupt countries. Call your Senator or politician about illegal Immigration, and Amnesty at Washington switchboard to be connected at 202-224-3121.
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[...] State of the Union 2011- A media trainer’s analysis of President Obama’s performance President Obama?s 2011 State of the Union address was different than most other state of the union speeches we have grown accustomed to over the last few decades. It was much less policy driven with far fewer initiatives proposed than what we would normally expect. It was less of a [...] get more on Read more on Forbes [...]