Crosscheck wrote:
Godzilla1960 wrote:
"Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step over the ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! -- All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a Thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."
...one hell of a quote...
and here we are 150 years later, going from one President that couldn't pronounce "nuclear" to another that can't pronounce "corpsman".
There's this wonderful book on linguistics, and what they say about our society I read a couple years ago. I wish I could remember its name. Its subtittle was something like "the destruction of grammar and why we should, like, care"
Anyway, in the book, the author compares speeches from Lincoln to speeches from George W. I don't remember which Lincoln speech it used as an example, but it compared the Lincoln speech to W. addressing the troops about to go to Iraq in 2003. W. ended this speech with the line "You have your orders, let's roll!". The author said that if Lincoln had made such a speech in his times, he would have never made it to Ford's Theater because the crowd would have killed him long before then.
In saying the, the author wasn't so much bashing W. as saying that he is a product of his times. Americans no longer expect their leaders to be great orators. We want action, not words these days, and are much more informal. I'm not so sure that this fits my view on leadership, as I would rather have a leader who could combine great leadership with great speaking skills, a la Lincoln.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
