Huh Huh, He Said “Ass”
I really dig the very particular way in which Obama drops the g’s from the end of his gerunds. He does this in two contexts. You used to hear it a lot during the revival tent style speechifying of his early primary run. The version I enjoy occurs when he’s required to defend himself against a proposition he finds absurd.
Lots of pols resort to g-dropping when feigning folksiness. Heck, I catch myself doing it in certain situations.
The delightful thing about Obama’s dropped g’s is how perfectly enunciated they are.
Click to viewYou can almost see the thought bubble appearing above his head. It says something like: I realize this is painfully hacky, but it works, so I’m doin’ it.
The context here is the charge mostly from TV reporters that he’s been too Spock-like and insufficiently angry in response to the BP spill. This is of course an argument from self-interest, and would be crummy advice if taken. Naturally the press could use some personal drama to juice up a story about engineering, lax regulation, and waiting for a solution that may be a long time coming.
Stolid responses make bad copy but are good politics. Successful presidents are publicly reassuring figures, not firebrands. They reserve what is often an explosive temper for blow-ups at their staffers. Obama of all candidates would never have been elected if he’d portrayed himself as an angry guy.