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Barack Obama Says 'Uhh' Once Every 9 Seconds
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by BMCWrites | March 25, 2009 at 09:38 am
364 views | 16 Recommendations | 7 comments
An analysis of the words spoken by President Barack Obama during his hour-long news conference Tuesday night shows that, while answering reporters' questions, he uttered a variant of the word "uhh" at least once every nine seconds.
Though relying upon a flat-screen monitor placed behind a throng of reporters instead of his much-maligned teleprompter, President Obama delivered his six-minutes-long opening statement almost flawlessly. Only four "uhhs" were detected. Then the bumbling began.
Amidst the 22-word transition to the period during which he answering questions from reporters, the Harvard Law School grad uttered some variant of the word "uhh" four times.
During the 47-minute Q-and-A session with reporters, President Obama repeated his use of "uhh" no fewer than 311 times.
In case you don't believe it, you can follow the same steps I did and judge for yourself:
STEP #1: I located the Obama-friendly transcript of the news conference published by the Los Angeles Times and copied and pasted it into a word-processing document on my computer.
STEP #2: I watched videos of the president's news conference -- available in seven segments via this YouTube channel -- and made notations in my word-processing document each time President Obama uttered any variant of the word "uhh." I counted 311 such utterances. [Note: When an "uhh" was barely audible or not clear, I did not count it.]
STEP #3: I converted the length of the Q-and-A session (47 minutes) into seconds via simple multiplication (47 x 60 = 2,820) to find the session lasted 2,820 seconds.
STEP #4: I divided the 2,820 seconds by 300 (a rounded-down count of "uhhs" intended to give President Obama the benefit of the doubt about the number of times he officially uttered an "uhh.") to determine the number of times the president uttered the word "uhh" during his session with reporters.
THE RESULT: President Obama uttered the word "uhh" -- or some variant of it -- once every 9.06 seconds.
So much for President Obama being a "gifted orator." From this point forward, I think he should be referred to as "Barack Uhhbama."
See also: President Obama Shows Lack of Media Skills (2/10/09)
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (7)
at 10:06 on March 25th, 2009
Esta, the point is that Bush was constantly taken to task for his incapacity as a speaker, and the left and the media give Obama a pass on his own inability to speak well spontaneously.
For me, the truth is that Obama, like Reagan, is good at rhetoric, but is not a very good thinker, as JFK or Nixon were. JFK's press conferences were amazing.
Obama strikes me as a man with a hundred taboos in his mind taken from years of exposure to politically correct thought from his Marxist pals, and he has to marshal all his thoughts before committing to a sentence.
He is also a bit boring without that teleprompter. Reminds me of George Bush, the elder, who lacked vision, outside of his wondrous capacity to kick Saddam out of Kuwait.
When you don't have real grounding in the truth and your own identity, then you say "uh", a lot.
This is not Bill Clinton Redux, this presidency. Clinton will go down historically as a much better president than Obama.
He will not be re-elected. I virtually guarantee it. Clinton made some big mistakes, but he did know how to work in a bi-partisan way with the redukers and come up with BALANCED BUDGETS.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Obama has sold out kids' and grandkids' futures out wtih these packagaes of debt.
at 10:04 on March 25th, 2009
Just for a laugh, point a video camera at yourself , hit Record and have someone (strangers, friends, doesn't matter) start asking you questions for about ten minutes. Answer the questions.
Upon playback of the video, count the um's, uhhs, and other verbal pauses in your responses (and, yes, long pauses count here). There will be a great many, I promise- far more than you would expect. You will also get a feel for just how long ten minutes really is.
Point is, there's a big difference between delivering a speech and fielding questions, which is why most politicians avoid the latter whenever possible.
at 07:17 on March 26th, 2009
Obama shouldn't be "without preparation".
at 01:41 on April 1st, 2009
uhh... do you know how many people say 'like' in their normal conversations? obama's 'uhh' is better than bush's 'duh duh duh duh duh'. no one is perfect. let's focus on the facts instead of the crap. uhh... use your brain. uhh...
at 22:01 on March 26th, 2009
uh...... uh.
at 19:50 on March 28th, 2009
Speaking of Barack Obama: Long Live President Barack Obama!
Barack Obama is a racial-minority individual and does not like racism: There is bad news about Bill Clinton. It is opined that Bill Clinton committed terrifying, racist, hate crimes during his presidency, and I am not free to say anything further about it.- A.W.
(I can type 90 WPM, and there are thousands of copies on the Internet indicating the content of this post. And there are thousands of copies in very many countries around the world.)
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‘If only there could be a ban against invention that bottled up memory like scent & it never faded & it never got stale.’ It came from my Lower Merion High School yearbook.
at 06:56 on April 2nd, 2009
Can I make a suggestion? Let's keep this data updated--I know, that's a lot of work--but it should get statistically more valid as we move through the four years. I've been a public speaker since junior high. Whether working off a script, or extemporaneously, there is no excuse for the unprofessionalism of repetitive crutches like "uh." All we've heard is how much smarter Obama is; crutches suggest otherwise. As do idiot gifts like DVD sets and iPods. For all you Obamunists, the shoe is not so comfortable on the other foot, is it?