Main Page | Month Archive | Email Updates | RSS Feed | Print Version

The Public Diplomacy Blog is intended to stimulate dialog among scholars, researchers, practitioners and professionals from around the world in the public diplomacy sphere. The opinions represented here are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School.

A NEW CHAPTER, A NEW DIALOGUE
JAN 20, 2009 - 2:49PM PDT
Posted by Rob Asghar
All posts by this author

Newly minted President Obama offered an address this morning that can be viewed on many layers. An inaugural address is primarily a message to Americans and secondarily a message to the governments and peoples of the world. But in 2009, more than in most years, this address is a message from Americans to a global village about what America is, what America seeks to be, and how America intends to work with that global village. As a longtime speechwriter and as a political commentator with Pakistani and Muslim roots, I'd like to offer some perspective on the public diplomacy-related import – and export – of Obama's remarks. A UCLA researcher reported several years ago that, of the impact that a public speaker's words have on an audience, only 7% comes from the actual words uttered. About 55% comes from the speaker's physical presence, and 38% comes from the speaker's vocal command. In that sense, let us recognize that much of Obama's appeal is what we see and how it resonates – a charismatic presence who speaks with assurance, a steady leader in command of himself and his environment. He represents a reconciliation of ethnic rivalries within his own being, a human embodiment of bridges that have been built and of bridges that can still be built. A great speaker's presence is inextricable from his words. Obama may well go down as the greatest speaker of this generation, and it has more to do with his presence than his words. Yes, I know this can sound like some of the Messianic propaganda that drives Obama detractors to drink, but his ability to inspire citizens here and overseas bears out in statistics and in the streets. Having said that, let's look at the 7% of his address that his words constituted. He began by thanking President Bush, then he propped the ex-president in front of him as a rhetorical punching bag, speed-bagging and jabbing and hooking Bush's eight-year domestic and foreign policy legacy and announcing that things would be different. But again, Obama's irenic presence, and his willingness to embrace a rival, softens the immense pressure of his blows. It is a trait that could help him considerably in his PD work. At the level of wordsmithing, I believe Obama's speech was not as powerful as his nomination acceptance speech last summer, but it was as effective as he needed it to be. I'll wager that these are the words that are most urgently relevant to American PD efforts: As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations…. [O]ur power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint…. We will begin to responsibly leave…... FULL TEXT
 
Read Comments (2) | Add Your Own

Read Comments:

Estela L. Go on January 25, 2009 @ 8:58 pm:
Rob, I loved reading your article. I stopped working on that day of the inaguaration, just to watch the delivery of Obama's speech. President Obama is good and the best Orator of all.

Rob Asghar on February 6, 2009 @ 8:01 am:
Thanks, Estela! Hope you're doing great at Stanford!

Add a Comment:

Your Name:
Your Email:
Comment:
Please enter the word you see in the image below:

NOTE: Comments are moderated by CPD and will typically be posted if they are relevant and respectful.