Obama's Speech: State of the Union or Keynote?
Early in my career, I asked a well-known motivational keynoter a question that had puzzled me for sometime: “I’ve noticed that many on the speaker circuit promote themselves as professional business speakers, while others call themselves motivational keynoters. How would you explain the difference?”
“Well, your first clue is the term ‘keynote,’ she responded. ”Notice that it’s singular. One keynote. The keynote speaker has one key message or theme—not three or ten points. The second distinction is mood. The keynoter’s mission is to set the tone and mood—it’s not about specifics. The business speaker, on the other hand, is an expert. He or she provides substantive content. And the third difference: With a keynoter, there’s never a handout; nobody ever takes a note.”
By her definition, I’d say the President gave a motivational keynote tonight. His theme seemed to be this: “I feel your pain in this lousy economy. You want jobs now so I’m going to move that item to the top of my agenda, but I’m forging ahead with the rest of my plans.”
Tone and Mood
His tone and mood aimed to motivate by celebrating the American spirit. He opened on a patriotic note, recounting all the times throughout history that Americans had found themselves in a tough spot as a nation—yet they struggled through to become stronger than before. Then he closed 70 minutes later again focused on the individual character and spirit of Americans as compassionate, generous, strong, decent, charitable—as evidenced in their volunteerism at home and in Haiti.
The opening and closing tugged at the emotions—with its references to “letters and emails he reads every night.” Those from children asking him to help them keep their home. Those from parents struggling to send their kids to college. Those from the elderly giving of their meager savings to those in less fortunate circumstances. It’s time that people “get a government that matches their decency.”
Who could argue with that kind of opening—or reasoning?
Theme/Structure
The body of his speech focused on his keynote theme—jobs. ”Jobs will be my number one focus for 2010.” He folded all his other agenda items under that theme:
- Strengthen financial systems—because that will stimulate small businesses, thus creating more jobs.
- Pass my energy plan—which will, by the way, produce more jobs.
- Export more of our goods—which will, of course, support keeping more jobs at home rather than transporting them overseas.
- Invest in skills and the education of our people—which will ensure that they can get and keep a job no matter what happens in the future. Education is the best insurance against poverty.
- Pass healthcare reform—which will lower costs for small businesses, thus providing more jobs and lower costs for all.
So much for the keynote structure.
So What About Delivery?
Characteristically Obama, the candidate, without the happy face.
Strengths
— Confident
— Articulate
— Off-the-cuff humor
— Gestures for emphasis
— Vocal variety (pace, pausing, emphasis, intensity)
— Sincere tone
— Teleprompter use (much improved from earlier mishaps!)
Areas for Improvement
— Arrogant demeanor (uplifted chin, pointed finger, karate chops)
— Arrogant word choices (“Let me set the record straight.” “I want a jobs bill on my desk without delay.” “If I have to enforce this discipline [fiscal discipline] by veto, I will.”)
— Lecturing/parental tone: Both his statements, phrasing, and tone positioned himself as a Washington outsider as he scolded others about their lack of transparency, earmarks, special deals to states/groups behind closed doors, and lack of bipartisanship. He ended with my-poll-numbers-may-be-sagging-but-I’m-up-to-the-task-of-doing-the-hard-job-that-is-good-for-the-country-and-I’m-not-a-quitter statement. At that, I could hear my dad saying to me as a child, “I don’t care whether you want to stop playing and go to bed now or not. You’ll be tired for school for tomorrow. Lights out!”
All things considered, it was definitely a keynote. It will be up to voters and Congress to determine how motivational it was.
