How we speak says a lot about us, mostly derived from our parents, although (as actors know) you can learn a lot from a voice coach, or debate instructor. The phraseology, syntax, word selection, quirks and slang all tell the world where we came from and to some degree how we think. Good courtroom lawyers like my brother in law know how important the presentation is. Obama did good!
Border Guards up on the Canadian Border (and elsewhere) often just engage in a little friendly conversation with travelers while checking documents at border crossing time, and often are skilled about placing a person's upbringing or residence closely by their language, and then compare that to your address, stated reason for going or returning, and so forth. And who among us hasn't noticed the Canadian's "eh" or "aboout", even sometimes in trained journalists who were Canadian born.
My daughter, who speaks fluent German among other languages, remarked that she knew she was getting good in German when she could tell the difference between the North (Berlin, say) and the South (Bavaria, Black Forest). My wife, who speaks French much better than I, reports something similar in France, and that the French we learn here is just "Parisian" French.
It is widely noticed that Obama speaks in full sentences, without much of an accent in contradistinction to his predecessor. GWB was actually a Connecticut yankee, but put on his "aw, shucks" faux west Texas affectation when he chose to, and while making fun of him as a moran (see, by saying it this way I show you that I'm a blogger, not a misspeller...secret code) he was clearly smarter then he let on, and at the same time his curious phrasings, word choices and occasional babbles gave more of an insight to how his mind was working (or not.. might be Jim Beam talking) than anything else. For many people the stumbling and sometime incoherent presentation were just part of the persona, but for many of us it was a perfect demonstration of someone trying to remember what he was supposed to say, how to match today's lie up with last week's, and the perpetual denial by the press secretaries that he didn't say or mean something he said just last week was hilarious, especially with YouTube available. "Are you going to believe me, or your lying eyes?"
When I went briefly to a private school in NYC in the fifties, we had just one black student - my first exposure to a black person, actually. But I think I remember that he basically got accepted because he was just as smart as us, and he spoke just like us (funny story for another time), so he was one of us.
But here's my premise: Many people actually think well, and speak meaningful sentences, but on account of their accent, their localisms (dialect), they aren't taken a seriously at first glance, or conversely, their words are given unearned weight. Think Deep Southern. Think Shakespearian English. Down East. English with a German Accent. All linguistic stereotypes.
I believe that a reason Obama made it to the POTUS is, in some degree, related to the fact that not only did he speak well rhetorically, and clearly in content, but he diffused the stereotype of Black Men by not speaking stereotype black (and I don't mean Buckwhite, think Al Sharpton, or even MLK), but speaking "white". The reverse of the "ebonics" issue.
A reason to learn "foreign" languages, as best you can...
Of course as a lawyer he knew the importance of linguistic persuasion, but I think that, with his un-stereotypical-black diction, he convinced many people who had never heard an eloquent black man without a southern accent that maybe he was enough like us, or the people we admire, that maybe the color of the skin was not a problem that being smart and eloquent couldn't overcome. Maybe the reverse Bradley effect, as some have called it.
I'll call it the Charley Pride effect.
Update : I know this is not a hot button issue/question, and not an "I/P", "OMG obama sold out" or other trendy diary, but what I really like about this site is the information and viewpoints that other people provide, even if it's only 12 of you. I've learned a lot about economics from Bonddad and legal stuff from Wmtriallawyer (just typing the screennames from memory, and it's not what it used to be, the memory that is) so thanks for everyone who commented - I enjoyed your participation, and now this issue is off my list of things to comment about...I can go back to lurking...