Obama - ACCENT change we can believe in

reply to post by budski


I see what you two are saying, but seriously, I didn't really hear a change between the 3 speeches. It just seemed in the first two - the "black" ones - that he spoke slower with more pauses. They seemed a little more powerful, but I didn't hear black jargon or anything.

Plus, like I said before, I do believe that people need to adapt to their audience. It's pretty much rule #1.

Originally posted by FlyersFan

Originally posted by Sestias
what do you want Obama to do? Always speak "white," or always speak "black?"

He should always speak NATURALLY. The way that is natural for him to speak. He (and all other politicians) should NOT be changing their speech patterns to fit the audience.

His background has exposed him to both cultures,

He was raised by a white family in Hawaii. His diction would be from that.
His black father abandoned him at a very young age. He did not have that culture in his home environment at all.

so probably both modes of diction are easy for him.

It doesn't matter what mode of diction is 'easy' for him.
Heck .. I can turn on a Southern accent very easily.
But it would be, in essense, a LIE for me to do so.

The diction he should be using is the one that is natural for him to.
Faking an accent ... pandering to who ever is listening at the time .. is pathetic.

Same for Hillary. She does it. Her Selma speech ranks right there with Obama's ... see through and pathetic.

Same for Bush43. I don't know if a thick Texas accent is his natural one, or if that is what he turns on for the Southern Audience every so often. Either way - he's either pandering with the Texas accent, or pandering without one.

Couldnt agree more. If I were african-american, I would tell Obama to just be himself and that he doesnt need to change his personality to get my vote.

It's probably not deliberate at all. It might just be the multiple entities that possess him taking turns.

I work as a healthcare professional and I will say that people DO habitually take on the mannerisms of others that they communicate with, including voice cues, accents, physical gestures. More often than not, it's unconscious (although I can see how some people like politicians, car salesmen, attorneys do it specifically for purposes of gaining a more empathetic, captive audience).....and in Obama's case I see it as being more of that unconscious, EMPATHETIC inclinications towards others that he has. If you have ever taken the time to read his memoirs and WATCHED his body language, you can tell that he is genuine. I would even say that George W. Bush is the same way in his gestures, accents. Mccain-not so much. Hilary Clinton-not so much.

I guess you have to really understand human psychology and study a bit of anthropology, sociology, speech and communication to see what I'm trying to say.

Have you ever noticed that when someone yawns, others start yawning as well? It's unconscious and an act of EMPATHY....again-part of our genetic structure as social creatures. And I THINK Obama is doing just that-slipping into other accents because he wants to connect better, empathize with his listeners.

I do that too. I was raised in California and have been living in Alabama for 13 yrs and I never would have imagined getting a southern accent, which I initially detested so much. But now when I'm around "real country folk"....it comes out. And people notice it and laugh. And then when I talk to my cousins from Cali it changes again. But I can't help it.