Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Why I Am an Obama Boy

The following is from Senator Obama's victory speech after the North Carolina primary:

This has been one of the longest, most closely fought contests in American history. And that's partly because we have such a formidable opponent in Senator Hillary Clinton.

Tonight, many of the pundits have suggested that this party is inalterably divided, that Senator Clinton's supporters will not support me and that my supporters would not support her. Well, I am here tonight to tell you that I don't believe it.

Yes, yes, there have been bruised feelings on both sides. Yes, each side desperately wants their candidate to win. But ultimately this race is not about Hillary Clinton; it's not about Barack Obama; it's not about John McCain.

This election is about you, the American people.


Did you catch that? I'll give you a moment to look over the text again. Take your time.

Oh, yeah. There it is:

"Tonight, many of the pundits have suggested that this party is inalterably divided, that Senator Clinton's supporters will not support me and that my supporters would not support her."
A perfect use of the subjunctive tense.

Cicero himself would be proud. Obama strikes that perfect chord of suggesting the inevitability of his nomination without outright saying it. In other words, Clinton's supporters are going to support him; they won't have any choice. On the other hand, if we were to imagine an alternate universe in which Clinton somehow managed to win, then we should assume that Obama's supporters would, in that special case, support her.

Wouldn't it be nice if we were to have a President who could use the English language for rhetorical purposes. (Ignoring, for the moment, the fact that the subjunctive doesn't technically exist in English...)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm just so proud you're my boy, too

Robyn B. said...

Does your Obama boyness mean you'll take to bikini-clad dancing? Kudos, if so...