I don’t think the speech is that remarkable. If any speech will be taught in rhetoric classes, it will be the Inaugural Address. In fact, it already is on my campus. As for the Ft Hood speech, there is one thing that does bother me a tad, maybe more than that. It’s the opening. I recognize it from two opening sentences from two other major speeches Obama has given this year–the Inaugural and the UN Address. They are not word for word copies, but they are perfectly parallel.

Inaugaral Address: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.

http://tinyurl.com/9wllv6

UN Speech: I come before you humbled by the responsibility that the American people have placed upon me, mindful of the enormous challenges of our moment in history, and determined to act boldly and collectively on behalf of justice and prosperity at home and abroad. http://tinyurl.com/yadp8mh

Ft. Hood Speech: We come together filled with sorrow for the thirteen Americans that we have lost, with gratitude for the lives that they led, and with a determination to honor them through the work we carry on. http://tinyurl.com/ybl5jl6

I wrote the following about the first two sentences on my “Rhetorical Flourishes” blog back in September after the UN speech:

“This level of similarity does not happen by accident. Clearly, both sentences feature the same three-fold parallelism, as discussed here. Given the identical structure, one might reasonably conclude that (1) the same hand is at work and (2) that he/she is pleased enough with the opening of the Inaugural Address that it was intentionally recycled for the UN speech. Not that there is anything wrong with this. It’s just an observation.” http://tinyurl.com/ylygkeb

Now that I’ve seen this same sentence three times (and that’s in the only three speeches I’ve looked at) its charm is starting to wear thin. I’d have hoped that an event like this would have inspired something a little less obviously formulaic, something original with at least the appearance of being heartfelt. I’d have hoped whoever was writing or approving these words would have been spurred to go beyond the familiar to find words and figures of speech that conveyed the unique nature of this tragedy and an uncommon/unexpected resolve to see that it is not repeated. But of course, I do know better. And I especially know better than to have expected a speech like Wretchard prepared.

BTW: here’s an in-depth analysis of the opening sentence of Obama’s Inaugural. http://tinyurl.com/yb9tyv2