Wordle.net is a cool Web tool that takes text and gives a visual diagram of how often words were used. I’ve taken the speeches by presidents Bush and Clinton to see what, if anything, they attempted to point out when they addressed their respective parties.
Here’s the DNC speech by President Bill Clinton on August 27:
And here’s the RNC speech by President Bush
Names: Both presidents, as would be expected, praised their respective candidates and repeated the gentlemen’s names often. However, Bush seemed to call Sen. McCain “John” much more than Clinton called Senator Obama “Barack.” It seems to be an attempt by the Bush speechwriters to make it appear as if McCain and the president are friends – not sure if that’s exactly a good thing for the senator.
Clinton’s five most used words:
- Health Care
Bush’s five most used words:
From the Wordle diagrams, it appears as if the two presidents spoke to their strengths: Clinton’s specifics and Bush’s psychological analysis of McCain the Man.
The words Clinton used were attempts to paint Barack Obama as a world leader who will be able to restore America’s image around the world. While Bush painted McCain as someone who is an excellent man and human being who has devoted his life to serving Congress and America itself.
One interesting difference in the two speeches is that Clinton used the term Republican, while Bush mentioned the Democrats once. This is easily explained as the Republicans decided to tone down the party rhetoric because of Hurricane Gustav.
It will be interesting to see the role the two presidents take in the upcoming weeks. While Bill Clinton was one of the most popular exiting presidents in US history, George W. Bush is one of the most unpopular. Add to that the superiority of Clinton’s oratory skills and that could spell some major trouble for John McCain.
I’ll compare the Obama and McCain speeches after McCain accepts the nomination Thursday.