My Favourite Speaker

10 Feb 2019

While I don’t listen to very many public speakers, one who continues to impress me every time I hear him speak is President Obama. His style of oration is very clear, and he always walks up to the podium knowing exactly what he wants to say. He’s incredibly convincing, while never feeling condescending. It’s a very professorial tone, one that exudes confidence and respects the listener. All of that comes together into speeches that are incredibly satisfying to listen to.

My favourite speech of his is his farewell address, in which he sums up his presidency, while also looking to the future and saying that things can still get better. Looking at it now, in retrospect, it feels a little idealistic going into the Trump presidency with such high hopes, but he at the same time calls for the listener to go out and make changes themselves if things aren’t going their way.

I don’t agree with him on a lot of his politics, he’s far too right wing for me, but he’s always able to get me to understand why he believes what he does, and that’s a whole lot better than the current president.