Lessons from Obama’s Speech on Osama

Late on a Sunday night, Americans found their ordinary pre-work week preparations interrupted by incredible news: Osama bin Laden, an individual who for the previous ten years had seemed more wraith than man, had been killed at U.S. hands.

The man who gave the go-ahead for the operation, U.S. President Barack Obama, now faced the task of communicating the event to the American people and the world. For U.S. citizens, it was perhaps the biggest news since September 11, 2001, when the national memory was scarred by the deadliest act on U.S. soil in the country’s history — the bin Laden-ordered aerial hijackings that resulted in more than 3,000 dead.

The president’s speech carried the difficult burden of paying tribute to the shared sense of loss on 9/11; relaying the facts of the assault on bin Laden’s compound; displaying sensitivity to international allies and enemies alike by not appearing to gloat; and getting off the dais as quickly as the message could be delivered. It was a perfect case of the need to follow the classic public speaking advice of “Be brilliant, be brief, be seated.”

So how’d the President (and his speechwriters) do? Overall, I’d call it a fairly masterful performance. Consider then the following analysis of the “Osama bin Laden Is Dead” speech, and keep these observations in mind the next time you have to deliver momentous news.

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Opening

Typically in a presentation, you want to open with an eye opener, an attention getter. It can be a question that draws the audience in, a dramatic anecdote, or even an exciting video. In the President’s case, none of that was necessary because viewers were already fully engaged by the news reports telegraphing the news beforehand.

So Obama’s opening statement, what they call a “straight lead” in the news business, was completely appropriate:

“Good evening.  Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.”

Emotional appeal

Any speech intended to sway opinion (and what political speech worth the paper it’s printed on doesn’t attempt to do so?) must appeal to listeners’ emotions — the element of rhetoric referred to by Plato as pathos. This speech had it in spades, beginning with a stirring passage that resurrected the painful ghosts of 9/11 with powerful word images:

“It was nearly 10 years ago that a bright September day was darkened by the worst attack on the American people in our history.  The images of 9/11 are seared into our national memory — hijacked planes cutting through a cloudless September sky; the Twin Towers collapsing to the ground; black smoke billowing up from the Pentagon; the wreckage of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where the actions of heroic citizens saved even more heartbreak and destruction.

And yet we know that the worst images are those that were unseen to the world.  The empty seat at the dinner table.  Children who were forced to grow up without their mother or their father.  Parents who would never know the feeling of their child’s embrace.  Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts.”

Wow.

Stuff in the middle

It’s dangerously easy to let the main body of the speech bog down into what is often known as “the muddle in the middle.” While this speech did contain quite a bit of exposition, it managed to maintain momentum as a result of the President’s measured delivery.

The middle served as the vehicle for a capsule time line of U.S. efforts with the help of ally countries over the years to track down bin Laden and exact retribution. This “tick tock” led up to the day’s events, and Obama subtly made sure everyone knew under who’s watch  that bin Laden was taken out, while giving due credit to the special forces operators who conducted the raid:

“Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.  A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability.  No Americans were harmed.  They took care to avoid civilian casualties.  After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.”

In ensuing sections, the President proceeded to:

• reiterate that the United States is not at war with Islam or its followers
•  acknowledge Pakistan and attempt to smooth any (likely) ruffled feathers over the secret U.S. operation which exploited Pakistani airspace and sovereign territory
•  remind listeners who started the chain of events (“The American people did not choose this fight.  It came to our shores, and started with the senseless slaughter of our citizens.”)
•  deliver the sound bite of the night and following week: “Justice has been done”
•  thank military and intelligence personnel, many whose names will never be publicly known, for their contributions

Close on a high note

And finally, he closed with a thought designed to engender a sense of commonality, national unity, and dare I use the term, “hope”:

“… Tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to.  That is the story of our history, whether it’s the pursuit of prosperity for our people, or the struggle for equality for all our citizens; our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place.

“Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are:  one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

It all came in at a lithe 1,387 words and took a little more than 9 minutes.

Was it perfect? Well, there’s no such thing as the perfect speech. Other commentators’ complaints have ranged from it not giving sufficient credit to President George W. Bush for laying the groundwork, to Obama’s style of delivery. I found such criticisms largely missed the point of the address as a rhetorical tool, where it succeeded wildly.

Assessment: One of Obama’s best addresses, and a cornerstone of a pivotal moment for his administration. It set the stage for a long-desired moment of national victory, and for a long-needed period of national healing, now that the top symbol of the nation’s most widely known nemesis is gone. It’s full of good lessons for anyone faced with the daunting task of having to persuade, assuage and inspire all in the same speech.