From Rich Lowry at RealClearPolitics, 13 step by step instructions on how to give a speech like Barack Obama. For example,
Tip number 12: At least once a speech, keep talking over the applause. This is inspiring.
I would add the following 8 tips to his list:
14. make sure you look over to the side and slightly up, even if nobody is sitting there. This accentuates your chin and makes you look earnest and statesmanlike.
15. If you’re more than three minutes in, don’t smile. This is serious stuff.
16. Brazenly flatter your audience. For example:
“I want to thank the members of this body for your efforts and your support in these last several months, and especially those who’ve taken the difficult votes that have put us on a path to recovery. I also want to thank the American people for their patience and resolve during this trying time for our nation. “
17. give homely anecdotes about yourself that paint you as a saintly man uninterested in the world’s temptations.
for example
And that’s why I moved to Chicago after college. As some of you know, I turned down more lucrative jobs because I was inspired by the Civil Rights Movement
18. accuse your opponents of playing politics:
Some of people’s concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost.
19. kick business around a bit . Call them “big business” and maybe throw in a reference to CEO salaries. Try to contrast the greed of business with the plight of average americans.
“It’s about the responsibilities that corporate America has – responsibilities that start with ending a culture on Wall Street that says what’s good for me is good enough; that puts their bottom line ahead of what’s right for America.”
or
“the struggles facing working families can’t be solved by spending billions of dollars on more tax breaks for big corporations and wealthy CEOs, but by giving a the middle-class a tax break, and investing in our crumbling infrastructure”
20. make sure you talk down on America:
so many of our nation’s schools are failing, especially those in our poorest rural and urban communities, denying millions of young Americans the chance to fulfill their potential and live out their dreams, we have more work to do.
21. Most important: Go for the big finish.
Use short sentences. Make platitudes and empty, grandiose claims. Place the emphasis on unusual words, so that seemingly banal sentences devoid of meaning sound profound. Use repetition of words and syntactic forms.
America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love.
And there you have it.
An instant Obama speech that will bring tears to the eyes of the most jaundiced observer, send shivers down spines, and leave people knowing not a single thing more than before you opened your mouth, but they will have the vague impression that you said something important.