Sarah's Thoughts
He’s So Articulate!
Senator Barack Obama announced the creation of his exploratory committee today. I wish I could do an official count of how many times the media used the word “articulate” when describing Obama and his appeal to voters. A quick Google search of “Barack Obama” and “articulate” brought up 17,800 results. Scanning through some of them, most of the hits I saw were articles extolling the senator as an articulate man.
Listen to that black man! He can talk in complete sentences and use correct subject/verb agreement!
“Articulate” is often the default compliment given to black public figures, and it seems a bit insulting to me.
January 17th, 2007 at 11:47 am
His amazing ability to speak and communicate his ideas to the public transcends his race. He doesn’t “speak well for a Black man”, he speaks openly and honestly, in a way that most politicians don’t.
January 17th, 2007 at 11:48 am
I agree with you. It’s loaded with condescension, as if white people are the proper speakers of the (American) English language and a well-spoken black person is “ALMOST as good as we are!”
January 17th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
I heard the same comments when Ford was running for Senate.
January 17th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
Well, he is articulate, isn’t he? Because of stuff I’ve read/seen in the past about use of the term, I avoid the word when referring to blacks, but I would never say it of Bush (41 or 43) or Frist or Corker or a lot of “white” leaders, either.
Perhaps whites who use it do so in the context of “Ebonics” or in light of the fact that most black leaders with broad appeal are indeed well-spoken and eloquent. I dunno.
January 17th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
Compared to Bush, I’m glad he’s articulate. It means I clearly know ahead of time that he’s so very, very wrong.
January 19th, 2007 at 8:39 am
isn’t it amazing how politics don’t seem to matter?
(how did I not know you had a blog???)