[Editor’s Note: Even though President-elect Obama lacks a sense of humor among his numerous shortcomings, one of his admirers, Martha Gunther of Culver City, certainly compensates. This morning, Ms. Gunther sent along the following dispatch composed by the witty syndicated columnist Andy Borowitz. Knowing that the editor of this newspaper is a sensible, introspective Republican who might take umbrage, she sent along this yarn anyway.]
Obama's Use of Complete Sentences Stirs Controversy in Stunning Break with Last Eight Years
In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect
Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight
years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political
observers say.
Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama's
appearance on CBS' "Sixty Minutes" last Sunday witnessed the President-elect's unorthodox verbal tick, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually
every time he opened his mouth.
But Mr. Obama's decision to use complete sentences in
his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight
years many Americans may find his odd speaking style
jarring.
According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it
"alienating" to have a President who speaks English as if it were his first language.
"Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and
verbs are in agreement,"
says Mr. Logsdon. "If he keeps it up, he is running
the risk of sounding
like an elitist."
The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using
complete sentences in
his speeches, the public may find itself saying, "Okay, subject, predicate,
subject predicate — we get it. Stop showing off."
The President-elect's stubborn insistence on using
complete sentences has
already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest
critics, Gov. Sarah
Palin of Alaska.
"Talking with complete sentences there and also, too,
talking in a way that ordinary Americans, like Joe the Plumber and Tito the
Builder, can't really
do there, I think needing to do that isn't tapping into
what Americans are
needing also," she said.
