It’s Mike Ettner’s Blog

We await the President’s Inaugural Address at noon. 

Today’s Washington Post has an article by the great Henry Allen examining the strengths of Barack Obama’s oratorical style.  Sunday’s edition included an article by Prof. Michael Eric Dyson tracing Obama’s techniques to the modes of African-American preachers. 

On a related note, I’ve been wondering what is the source for Obama’s routine use of the phrase, “The notion that … “.  Throughout the campaign he would use that formulation, rather than the more common and expected “The idea that …” or “The belief that …”, especially when he was about to explain an idea, belief or rumor that he wanted gently but firmly to rebut.  For example, “The notion that I should not mention President Reagan’s strengths because he was a Republican is something I reject.” 

What accounts for his instinctive preference for the word “notion” ?  Well, I don’t know for sure, but here is my speculation.  First, it is his personal debating and expository style to be calm in the set-up, gently laying the predicate, but then forceful in the follow-through, driving home the argument.   Now, to suggest that your opponent’s “ideas” are faulty (that her mind is weak), or your critic’s “beliefs” are suspect (that his morals are weak), does not show civility or good manners on the part of the speaker.  It leans toward a personal diversion (what, after all, is more personal than casting aspersions on the other person’s mind and morals?) inimical to consensus building.  Obama is nothing if not goal-oriented.  Better to wrap the other person’s views in the amorphous swaddling of a “notion” — something that then can be replaced, painlessly, with a stronger, reality-based idea or belief.  What survives this soft confrontation is a pragmatic solution. 

The second and less conscious reason Obama gravitates toward the word “notion” is, I believe, his liking of the word’s sound.  It’s been said that for every person the most beautiful sounding word is their own name.  If that’s true, then notice how the soft open vowels of bah-rahk-oh-bah-ma are shared with the word, noh-shahn.

P.S.  If you paused at the title of this post, because something about it resonated with you, and you’re not sure why, go to this video for instant relief.