Finding hope for democracy in what Obama says and how he says it

For the past eight years, we’ve had a president who stumbled over the English language so often that his handlers made sure he always read prepared statements instead of making blunders by speaking off the cuff.

In fact, if there is any area where I absolutely saw clear improvement in the performance of George W. Bush as president, I have to admit that by the end of his term he became much better at reading his statements aloud. When I heard him on the radio without seeing him looking down at his notes, Bush almost sounded like he was talking instead of reading.

Barack Obama, in contrast, speaks naturally in complete and grammatically correct sentences. He may occasionally use colloquialisms, and his speech may echo cadences from the African-American community, which is fine, yet he has a clear command of the English language wholly lacking in our previous president.

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