Speechwriters ponder Obama's oratorical awesomeness

As President Obama prepares to deliver his first State of the Union address, Sorensen wonders whether the president has not become more like the politicians he supposedly displaced.

“He is still a very eloquent, articulate speaker,” Sorensen says. “He is clearly well-informed on all matters of public policy, sometimes, a little too well-informed. And as a result, some of the speeches are too complicated for typical citizens and very clear to university faculties and big newspaper editorial boards.”

But even admirers have a hard time remembering what he actually says…

“The speech he made in Cairo — I remember the intelligence, the breadth and the reasonableness,” McPherson says. “But I can’t tell you — and this is one of the shortcomings of the kind of speech he makes — I can’t quote anything, or cite anything, off the top of my head.”