Friday, June 18, 2010

This Is How It's Done

I didn't listen to President Obama's speech earlier this week in which he discussed the British Petroleum oil well explosion and resulting spill, but I haven't heard very many nice things about it.

Probably best, therefore, that he didn't choose today to speak, since it's the 70th anniversary of what no small number of people consider one of the best speeches in the English language, Sir Winston Churchill's "their finest hour" address to the House of Commons as the Nazis marched on Paris. The text is here, and the page contains audio links. When it comes to oratory, Sir Winston casts a long shadow, and foolhardy indeed is the politician who stands in it while offering up his or her own words.

Wise choice, Mr. President.

2 comments:

latoberg said...

I am sure you would have heard more positive things if you didn't only listen to Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck.

Friar said...

Yeah, I'm a Beck O'Reillian all over.

Actually, from what I read, Olbermann and Maddow weren't real kind to the speech either.