The drumbeat has been constant since the day BarackObama first burst upon the national scene: This guy is smarter than the rest of us. He operates on a completely different intellectual plane than mere mortals. He’s brilliant, you’re not.
So how do Obamabots explain the fact that his State of the Union was written at eighth grade level. In fact, it only one State of the Union address in the last seventy-five years was written at a lower level.
University of Minnesota Smart Politics explains:
The Flesch-Kincaid test is designed to assess the readability level of written text, with a formula that translates the score to a U.S. grade level. Longer sentences and sentences utilizing words with more syllables produce higher scores. Shorter sentences and sentences incorporating more monosyllabic words yield lower scores.
But Tuesday evening’s address beat even that.
A Smart Politics analysis of 69 orally delivered State of the Union Addresses since the mid-1930s finds the text of Obama’s speech to have notched the second lowest score on the Flesch-Kincaid readability test recorded by a U.S. President.
A little advice, Mr President:
No reason to dumb it down. Alan Grayson isn’t in Congress anymore.
UPDATE: Just to do a reality check, we performed the same analysis on a
couple other pieces of writing.
Paul Ryan¹s response to the SOTU was written at the 10.08 grade level.
Michele Bachmann¹s Tea Party response was written at the 9.00 grade level.
The University of Minnesota¹s explanation (excerpted in this article) was written at the 9.24 grade level.
IHateTheMedia.com¹s portion of this story was written at an 8.12 grade level.
Of course, no one ever called us the Smartest Blog In History.
Source: University of Minnesota
{ 45 comments… read them below or add one }
Rated Awesome! What do you think?
22 
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They talked about that last year after the State of the Union speech.
His lofty rhetoric is really just a media creation. He speaks in very short sentences with small words. He speaks to his audience.
Rated Awesome! What do you think?
17 
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Cut the Prez some slack guys! He has to speak to the average pubic school gradeate and the 8th grade is about high a reading level most reach.
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3 
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He does seem innately tuned in to the pubic.
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2 
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You mis-spelled the word, “graduate.”
Are we all going to get graded here now?
___LOL——->
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4 
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I mispelled “public” too, or did you miss that one. (Evil grin here).
Rated Awesome! What do you think?
41 
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See Obama speak. Speak! Speak! Speak! See Michelle Gloat. Gloat! Gloat Gloat! See much of Congress mindlessly applaud. Applaud! Applaud! Applaud! See the public puke! Puke! Puke! Puke!
Rated Awesome! What do you think?
24 
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Obama’s speech writers were targeting his base – non thinkers.
I find it interesting that Bush 43 beat Reagan & Bush 41. Wasn’t he supposed to be the dumbest President ever?
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Don’t get me wrong, I voted for a guy named George Bush for president 4 times. Begrudgingly so each instance, nose plugs, air sick bag, the works. Tired of having to vote least of evils. But some speechwriters are better than others and some speakers’ deliveries are substantially more eloquent than others.
The current bozo at the wheel is no good off the cuff. He is a 3,000%er and without teleprompters or at least an easy to remember script he is lost.
Yet, the following is verbatim from February 4, 2005 in Tampa, G. W. Bush attempting to explain his plan to improve the financial health of the Social Security system:
“Because the – all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table, whether or not benefits rise based on wage increases or price increases. There’s a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those – changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be – or closer delivered to what has been promised. Does that make any sense to you? It’s kind of muddled.
“Look, there’s a series of things that cause the – like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate – the benefits will rise based on inflation, as opposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow if those – if that growth is affected. It will help on the red.”
Still, neither Bush seemed as obviously socialist and intent on the rapid demise of the U.S. as the leader of the free world, at least until Bush Jr.s buddy Hank Paulson shook the dais around and started the ‘stimulus’ routine. Only 700 million USD. A bargain at half the price. I’m not suggesting the dem congress isn’t responsible for the housing bubble since they obviously are, but that’s a different document.
Rated Awesome! What do you think?
17 
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Isn’t he standing above us…like a god? That is, according to the Apostle Chris Matthews. I wonder what grade level Matthews speaks?
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13 
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Chris doesn’t speak, he spittles.
Rated Awesome! What do you think?
8 
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yea and he gets tingles down his leg fresh from pres O
Rated Awesome! What do you think?
17 
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Did anyone see the Muslim Cleric who was caught trying to cross our “secure” southern border…he was curled up in the boot of a BMW.
Seems our American media has chosen NOT to report on this one.
Rated Awesome! What do you think?
12 
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Homer Simpson speaks at a ninth grade level.
Rated Awesome! What do you think?
13 
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And Homer Simpson would know how to have a REAL “Beer Summit”
Rated Awesome! What do you think?
10 
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…and he’d have brought doughnuts.
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6 
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Hell, Bart speaks at a higher level than Obama. And is a heck of a lot smarter, too.
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3 
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Mmmmmm…… Doughnuts…….
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2 
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Mmmmmm…. Beeeeeerrrrr…
Rated Awesome! What do you think?
9 
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It’s real simple public education and grading on the bell curve.
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Heh. I had a district superintendent who got angry because I graded on the curve. She said it didn’t allow for enough A’s. (True story. In Dixon Mo)
Rated Awesome! What do you think?
12 
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The Liberal Elites have come to realize, that after decades of dumbing down the population, we slaves no longer understand WTF they are telling us.
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I am 100% sure that you are right about this. In future elections, the candidates will be judged on their ability to grunt at the dumb-masses and throw out packets of soylent green to the hungry crowds of zombies.
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4 
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see, you have to be smart to speak like the rest of us
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5 
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Bush, Regan and Clinton aren’t much better. In this case, I think it says more about the audience than the speaker. Presidents have had to dumb down their messages over the past 25 years — even after the gazillions in federal money spent on Education since Johnson launched his Great Society.
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Reagan can’t be mixed in with the Bushes or Clinton or O’Bama. No correlation on any level other than residency at the white house.
Rated Awesome! What do you think?
10 
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You need to go back to a history class and listen to a Ronald Reagan speech. Even 20 years before he was elected President he knew how to get his message across. Of course, those of us old enough to vote at the time went to school when learning was a requirement instead of something you don’t have to worry about, just do you best and Teacher will pass you anyway.
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4 
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The Great Communicator. A nickname like that could be given for all the wrong reasons. In the case of R. W. Reagan it was most apt.
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5 
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Mods…is there a way to find quotes by Dems when the price of gas under GWB was about $2…now with the Middle East on fire…it’s going to go up…
Rated Awesome! What do you think?
8 
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I don’t know other than searching with Google. That’s how we’d do it. It’s funny, just last night at the Farmers Market in town here, I walked up to the Democrat booth to annoy the idiots working it. I asked the guy about the profits Obama was making off $90+ oil. He looked puzzled. I reminded him that when oil was up during the Bush administration he had told me that Bush and Cheney and all their oil buddies were driving the price up on purpose and making billions. So, I asked him why it’s up now, with Obama in charge. He said this time it was all the speculators causing it, it wasn’t Obama’s fault, and in fact, Obama is trying to keep the price down.
I had three glasses of wine before I stopped by his booth, so I think I lost my cool, especially when he said Obama is not in bed with the banksters, and that the Republicans in congress were far richer than the Democrats in congress.
Mr. Editor always asks me why I subject myself to this, and I just can’t help it. But I least I didn’t punch anyone out. I eventually found my wife blocks away as she does like to stand next to me when I “debate.”
Rated Awesome! What do you think?
7 
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One of these day’s you will learn you can’t debate morons….I mean Democrats.
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Hey, chill out with all those long sentences with polysyllabic words.
Dem-o-crat no dig you dig? You buy or-gan-ic basil plant from van. help dem-o-crat grow weed and make cops no won-der about green-house you dig?
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I got your back.
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6 
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If that chart is accurate then we’ve been getting more and more uneducated.
To an extent, I think that’s true, but it’s not the entire explantion; it could be that modern communications (the Interent, cell phones, twitter, texting, television, movies) put an emphasis on rapid, brief communications, visual images and action. People have been re-wired for rapidity, that’s why Kennedy and Eisenhower score so high—they were Presidents 50 and 60 years ago when most people got their information from newspapers and magazines, so they read and spoke in longer sentences.
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6 
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My dismay stems from the fact that there was no gratuitous comment on the phrase “69 orally delivered” in the original story. I’m wondering that’s some kind of coded message…
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5 
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Hanging curveball, indeed. My apologies. Don’t know how I missed that one.
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3 
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Absolutely unacceptable behavior, Mr. editor. Please advise Mrs. editor to rectify this situation. – j/k kinda.
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3 
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Hey, we’re not the most erudite bunch of bloggers ourselves…but then, we sort of know our own audience while on the otherhand, Obama’s handlers and speech writers assume all Americans are stupid without really trying to actually find out if we Amerians are all stupid or not. I rather like our approach.
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His speechwriters are all under 30 and follow the cut-and-paste method of speechwriting.
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Bama will tell you that the public is so dumb, he has to talk down to them.
Don’t you know that the public is so dumb, that the government needs to tell them every move to make. Bamacare, financial institutions, and the auto industry were the first steps. he’ll get closer to helping the public when he takes over the internet, energy, and the media.
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Don’t blame all this on the Obummer! There are 535 egotistical fools sitting in D.C. and the majority of them think the same way. They may be called Senators and Representatives but all they represent is their own interests. Which means getting re-elected and screwing the taxpayer. All legislation, like the Obummer HealthCare fiasco, has to come from the House, be approved by the Senate, then the President signs it into law.
The President, whoever he may be, takes the heat but in reality it is all elected fools in Washington that are driving our country into the financial ditch.
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Actually this is consistent with the Genius Obama scam. He is talking down to the stupid people in the general population, who cannot begin to understand what the Great One has to say. Besides, ALL speeches, good bad or indifferent are written by speech writers and are nothing but political propaganda. Didn’t anyone ever watch The West Wing?
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Nope, never did watch that show. May have exposed myself to about 10 minutes of it once with no lasting infection.
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You may want to watch the show, then think about everything the actors say and do. I mean really think about it and compare the shows concept of what goes on in Washington to what we know really goes on in Washington. The producers were not that far off of the mark. Everything is about behind the doors dealings, smoke screens, and bullshit. Just like in real life.
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Most Americans are pretty ignorant, and stupid when it comes to requiring an understanding of things that are beyond them, but relevant.
Obama’s speech, if anything, relates more to the Average American, and even to younger Americans. If anything, a president should facilitate the understanding of their citizens.
Who are you to criticize that? Simply a hater, in search of a reason to drive said hate. No intelligent human being gives a single shit about the level of writing of a president. An intelligent person would realize that what matters is not the presentation of content, but the subject and content itself. Get your priorities straight, buddy.
Its time this god damn country throws away its aged and crumbly European foundations. This is going to be a Yellow Nation eventually, and people will have to accept the change. Asians are the next Variety of man, theres no point in expressing racist values now, considering soon you will be the fool. You are the coward.
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Wow. Another 3,000%er!
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