Crashing Clinton

Bill Clinton's great oration comes from more than just his eloquent articulation, it stems from the way he--or whoever wrote his speeches--structures his sentences. Lanham says that the running style is closest to natural speech, but this speech is highly organized and patterned and mostly written in period style. Clinton may let his words flow and fall naturally, but there is always a climax with a concluding, driving sentence, allowing for period-style suspension and balance within his paragraphs.

Take a look at this paragraph from the speech. It is a prime example of a period--the architecture of the sentence is same, patterned with parallel clauses beginning with "when," and finally climaxes.

Profound and powerful forces are shaking and remaking our world, and the urgent question of our time is whether we can make change our friend and not our enemy.

This new world has already enriched the lives of millions of Americans who are able to compete and win in it. But when most people are working harder for less; when others cannot work at all; when the cost of health care devastates families and threatens to bankrupt many of our enterprises, great and small; when fear of crime robs law-abiding citizens of their freedom; and when millions of poor children cannot even imagine the lives we are calling them to lead—we have not made change our friend.

But lets break this paragraph down a little more. Notice the way Clinton pulls at the people's heartstrings to persuade them of his point: "when most people are working harder for less; when others cannot work at all." His vocabulary was very carefully chosen, and specific words stand out to readers and listeners. Words like"cost," and "devestates families" and "great and small" appeal to the people and their needs. When he finally ends with "we have NOT made CHANGE our friend," readers and listeners cannot help but nod their heads in agreement because of the choice words he used to persuade them with.

Clinton utilizes parallel patterns quite well. Here is another prime pattern example: "Communications and commerce are global; investment is mobile; technology is almost magical; and ambition for a better life is now universal. We earn our livelihood in peaceful competition with people all across the earth." The rhythm established here by the pattern sets the reader/listener up for a grabbing ending to sum it all up. Clinton delivers such an ending every time.

In this next paragraph, the sentences are shorter, more direct. Clinton circles around the definition of posterity, loosely stringing along the sentences in a running sort of way but finally cinches the end with an imperative sentence. Clinton uses a lot of repetition of words and creates another kind of pattern in this paragraph:

Our Founders saw themselves in the light of posterity. We can do no less. Anyone who has ever watched a child's eyes wander into sleep knows what posterity is. Posterity is the world to come—the world for whom we hold our ideals, from whom we have borrowed our planet, and to whom we bear sacred responsibility. We must do what America does best: offer more opportunity to all and demand responsibility from all.

The great secret of Clinton's sentences is the pacing. He winds up the audience, clause after clause, and then finally lets go with a crashing Ciceronian period. It is that final crash that makes him so effective as a speaker.