On the evening of March 28, 2011,
President Barack Obama preempted countless episodes of Jeopardy! all over the country
to speak about the military action he recently authorized in Libya.
The speech was as impassioned and eloquent as we should expect from the president of a major world power as he effectively seals the deal on World War III.
Of course, that also means that it was more persuasive than informative,
in traditional political style.
Obama is exceptionally good at this
—some might even call him a “natural”—
and the speech was indeed a work of verbal art,
one that deserves to be analyzed.
It begins with a typical, boilerplate-type introduction,
including the royal we
and the obligatory half-hearted kowtowing to the military.