Obama’s SOTU scores at eighth grade reading level

(Via Ricochet.com)

Longtime users of Microsoft Word may be familiar with the Flesch-Kincaid grade level score, which considers the average number of words per sentence and the average number of syllables per word within a written text, and assigns an overall grade level score to the text. A text with a score of 7.3, for instance, would be understandable by the average seventh grader in America, whereas a score of 11.9 would indicate a more complex text understandable by an above-average high school junior.

According to Smart Politics’ analysis, President Obama’s 2011 State of the Union speech received the second lowest Flesch-Kincaid SOTU grade level score since FDR.

A Smart Politics analysis of 69 orally delivered State of the Union Addresses since the mid-1930s finds the text of Obama's speech to have notched the second lowest score on the Flesch-Kincaid readability test recorded by a U.S. President.

Obama’s speech had a Flesch-Kincaid grade level score of just 8.1 – which is a half a grade lower than the 8.8 he tallied in 2010.

President Obama now has the lowest average Flesch-Kincaid score for State of the Union addresses of any modern president – with his 8.5 grade level falling just below the 8.6 score recorded by George H.W. Bush during his presidency.

By contrast – the speeches delivered by two of the most popular presidents in Republican circles in recent generations – Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush – recorded average scores of 10.3 and 10.4 respectively – nearly two full grade levels higher than Obama.

Kennedy (12.0) and Eisenhower (11.9) delivered speeches that had a reading difficulty of three and a half grade levels higher than Obama.

The way I see it, there are two possible conclusions one could draw from this nugget of analysis, neither of which is particularly flattering. Either we’ve got a president who isn’t as sophisticated as his sycophants in the punditocracy make him out to be, or we’ve got a president who is so contemptuous of the American people, that he feels he must address them as though they’re 13-year old children.

Then again, perhaps the man’s just got a team of dull speechwriters.

Full story: Obama’s SOTU Scores at Eigth Grade Reading Level – Ricochet.com