Monday, April 6, 2009

Is Obama a Bore?

Iain Martin in the Telegraph blog, points out the obvious: Barack Obama really does go on a bit
Isn't it time for him to go home yet? It is good, in theory, that the new President of the United States is taking so much time to tour Europe. He arrived in London last Tuesday, has been to Strasbourg, Prague yesterday and now he's off to Turkey. It shows, I suppose, that he cares about the outside world and that is 'A Good Thing'. But his long stay means that we are hearing rather a lot from him, way too much in fact.

(...)

Yet, we are told that he is a great orator and in one way he certainly is. He does have a preternatural calm in the spotlight and a mastery of the cadences we associate with the notable speakers in US history - such as JFK and MLK. But beyond that, am I alone in finding him increasingly to be something of a bore?

His performance at the first press conference in London with Gordon Brown featured moments in which he sparkled - his riff on loving the Queen was a high-point. But most of the serious answers that I listened to were interminable, windy and not very impressive. At points there were pauses so long that it appeared he had simply lost his train of thought.

Read the whole thing, it'll make you laugh. It takes a sarcastic Brit to wake people up. It is very true, he relies on the cadence and tone but really does not say anything substantial. I know I'm tired of it. To me there is almost nothing worse than a bore.

No comments:

Post a Comment