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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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Obama sure makes himself clear
October 14, 2009, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
FOR all his flourish, United States President Barack Obama sure falls back on a few familiar phrases: Make no mistake. Change isn't easy. It won't happen overnight. There will be setbacks and false starts.
Those who routinely listen to the president have come to expect some of those expressions in almost every speech.
Yet in the portfolio of presidential phrases, none is more pervasive than Obama's favorite: Let me be clear. It is his emphatic windup for, well, everything.
"Let me be clear," he said in describing his surprise at winning the Nobel Peace Prize. "I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations."
"Let me be clear," he said in one of his many pitches for a health insurance overhaul. "If you like your doctor or health care provider, you can keep them."
Presidents talk so much in public that is not surprising to find rhetorical patterns. Although Obama is known for a flair with the written and spoken word, his hardest mission is often to make complicated matters relevant to the masses.
Clarity it seems is of the highest order.
Terrorists? "Now let me be clear: We are indeed at war with al-Qaida and its affiliates."
Student testing? "Let me be clear: Success should be judged by results, and data is a powerful tool to determine results."
Auto bailouts? "Let me be clear: The United States government has no interest in running GM."
The president takes the phrase everywhere. In Moscow: "Let me be clear: America wants a strong, peaceful, and prosperous Russia."
In Ghana: "Let me be clear: Africa is not the crude caricature of a continent at perpetual war."
In Trinidad, announcing new aid: "Let me be clear: This is not charity."
Obama has used the same phrase, or a variation of it, to make his point about the strategy in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, bipartisanship, pet legislative projects and Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
Lest anyone get too serious about this, Obama has lightened the mood with the phrase, too. He made state lawmakers laugh when he said the massive taxpayer-financed stimulus plan wouldn't be spent on frivolous projects such as dog parks.
"Now, let me be clear," Obama said in March, before Bo the First Dog arrived. "I don't have anything against dog parks."
Those who routinely listen to the president have come to expect some of those expressions in almost every speech.
Yet in the portfolio of presidential phrases, none is more pervasive than Obama's favorite: Let me be clear. It is his emphatic windup for, well, everything.
"Let me be clear," he said in describing his surprise at winning the Nobel Peace Prize. "I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations."
"Let me be clear," he said in one of his many pitches for a health insurance overhaul. "If you like your doctor or health care provider, you can keep them."
Presidents talk so much in public that is not surprising to find rhetorical patterns. Although Obama is known for a flair with the written and spoken word, his hardest mission is often to make complicated matters relevant to the masses.
Clarity it seems is of the highest order.
Terrorists? "Now let me be clear: We are indeed at war with al-Qaida and its affiliates."
Student testing? "Let me be clear: Success should be judged by results, and data is a powerful tool to determine results."
Auto bailouts? "Let me be clear: The United States government has no interest in running GM."
The president takes the phrase everywhere. In Moscow: "Let me be clear: America wants a strong, peaceful, and prosperous Russia."
In Ghana: "Let me be clear: Africa is not the crude caricature of a continent at perpetual war."
In Trinidad, announcing new aid: "Let me be clear: This is not charity."
Obama has used the same phrase, or a variation of it, to make his point about the strategy in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, bipartisanship, pet legislative projects and Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
Lest anyone get too serious about this, Obama has lightened the mood with the phrase, too. He made state lawmakers laugh when he said the massive taxpayer-financed stimulus plan wouldn't be spent on frivolous projects such as dog parks.
"Now, let me be clear," Obama said in March, before Bo the First Dog arrived. "I don't have anything against dog parks."
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