Cadence,Credibility: his way with words

The crowd was quiet now,watching me, Obama has written of discovering the power of his oratory in college. Somebody started to clap. Go on with it,Barack, somebody shouted. Tell it like it is. Then others started in,clapping,cheering,and I knew I had them,that the connection had been made.

Connect. Yes,we can. Connect with repetition,cadences,attitude,rises and falls of tone. Yes,we can.

Its about the tune,not the lyrics,with Obama, says Philip Collins,who wrote speeches for Tony Blair. Collins says the way he slides down some words and hits others the intonation,the emphasis,the pauses and the silences.. Ted Sorensen,who wrote John Kennedys Inaugural Address,said oratory required speaking from the heart,to the heart,directly,not too complicated,relatively brief sentences,words that are clear to everyone.

Obama won souls with pathos and ethos. In a dangerous moment,he used logos to justify his position on the racial remarks made by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. It worked.