The website called Smart Politics has graded the speeches of many politicians and others (based on words and sentence structure) and assigned them a grade level. For instance, all three of Barack Obama's State of the Union speeches were graded out at an 8th grade level (and that was still probably over the heads of many of the teabagger congress people listening to the speeches).
The site has also assigned grade levels to all the speeches of the First Ladies (and prospective First Ladies) in the modern era. Here's how they all stacked up:
Michelle Obama (2012)...............12.84
Michelle Obama (2008)...............9.28
Teresa Kerry (2004)...............9.20
Elizabeth Dole (1996)...............8.51
Cindy McCain (2008)...............8.38
Hillary Clinton (1996)...............8.29
Barbara Bush (1992)...............7.99
Laura Bush (2004)...............7.77
Tipper Gore (2000)...............6.63
Laura Bush (2000)...............6.46
Ann Romney (2012)...............5.80
Michelle Obama delivered her wonderful speech at a 12.84 level (that's a college freshman level). She treated the Americans listening to her like intelligent adults. By comparison, Ann Romney delivered her speech at a 5.80 grade level. Now I don't think Mrs. Romney is incapable of giving a speech at a higher level. Far from it. She's an educated woman.
We must remember who she was talking to. She was trying to convince the teabaggers (who still aren't sure they trust Willard) that her husband was worth working to elect. I think that's why she had to tone her rhetoric down to a sixth grade level. She's seen the atrocious spelling on their signs, and knew a college-level speech would never work.
she was amazing.
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