This weekend was a first for me. I got to go to Arlington National Cemetery for Memorial Day and listen to the president of the United States and sit about 30 yards away from him. (And as a side note, I got to see Michelle Obama in person too, and she really is as elegant as she seems)
President Obama's speech was great. Perfect for Memorial Day. But, he made a big mistake which would earn a top spot on my blooper log for Professor Dant's editing class. He made reference to a fallen soldier who graduated from the "U.S.S. Naval Academy." Ummm, I didn't realize that the Naval Academy was a ship. It was odd. And as good as his speech was, I just can't get over it. Didn't he realize as he said it that it sounded so bizarre?
As an editing minor, this is definitely something that I hope to learn more about. I think it would be very interesting to find out more about the people behind the scenes who help political figures look good for the public. And even more, who gets the blame for errors in a speech? Should we blame Obama for not knowing the proper name of the nation's service academy or should we excuse it blame whoever put it into the teleprompter? I'll let you know what I find out.
I don't know exactly where my blame would lie yet. I would think that political speeches would be highly edited, and "USS Naval Academy" would be an easy error to catch. My guess is that it started as "US Naval Academy," and perhaps Obama tripped over his words a little bit. I don't think I would be quick to cast blame, though. People misspeak even when presented with words to read aloud, especially when they're in a higher register than everyday speech, I think. So, even if that was a slight gaffe, I think it's important to forgive the error. I don't think the editors got it wrong. Blame it on human speech but not necessarily on Obama.
ReplyDeleteI am open to being wrong about this. Maybe the editors really did let that error slide. I don't know for certain.
IMPEACH HIM! BAAAAAHH! jk....maybe
ReplyDeletePS: Did you know Ben Stein wrote Reagan's speeches? AND I served him a burger when he came to my restaurant. Ben. Not Ronald.
ReplyDeleteMy high school English teacher worked as a political speech writer for many years. She did speeches for local politicians as well as national government politics. She was pretty awesome. They generalized what they wanted and she wrote them, delivered them to the politician and they got the credit for delivering the speech to the public.
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