Hi everyone,
My sincerest apologies for the prolonged delay. Between a new job, moving and settling in, unfortunately this has taken a backburner. But what better time to get started than President Obama’s State of the Union Address, practically the kick-off for this year’s presidential election? And what better way to get back than to create one of my favorite multimedia tools, a word cloud from Wordle?
In case you forgot (can’t blame you if you did), Wordle is a free website that creates “beautiful word clouds” out of any body of text, with word size corresponding to frequency, i.e. the more it’s used, the bigger it appears. Please find the graphic – you may click to enlarge it – and analysis below of the commander-in-chief’s approximately hour-long speech.
- As leader of a divided country and in front of a partisan Congress, President Obama brought forth a message of unity with enthusiasm. The words “our” or “ours” appeared 83 times, “we” or “we’ve” 99 times, and “us” and “together” 12 and 8 times, respectively.
- The most frequently used adjective and proper noun? “American” and “America,” totaling 33 and 29 mentions apiece. “Americans” and “people” registered 20 times each as well.
- Another main theme was the economy (12 times) and the main non-proper noun was the topic on everyone’s minds: “jobs,” with 32 appearances (“new” rang in at 26), while “work” and “workers” combined for 28 times. “Tax” and “energy” also dominated, spoken 22 and 23 times, respectively.
- Positive verbs are always present in an Obama speech and last night was no different. “Will” led the pack with a staggering 57 appearances. “Make” and “help” were said 15 and 13 times, and the President’s “need” and “want” had 13 and 12 each.
- Like most third-year addresses, Obama also wanted to provide perspective. “Year” and “years” totaled 37 appearances, while “time” had 16.
- The so-called buzz words were only mentioned briefly. The widely-discussed “milk” joke only required 3 mentions, the various “unit(s)” only 7. But, of course, Obama’s tried and true slogan that swept him into office four years ago appeared 25 times – “can.”
What are your thoughts on the address? What other points did Obama emphasize or leave out? And how does it set the tone for his re-election campaign?
As this election season unfolds, I’m excited to be back and hopefully see you through to November and beyond!
