It depends, of course, on your definition of "great" and
"articulate," but for his ability to work an audience, it has to be
Bill Clinton.
 
Clinton Atchley, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of English
Director, Master of Liberal Arts Program
Box 7652
Henderson State University
Arkadelphia, AR  71999
Phone:  870.230.5276
Email:  [log in to unmask] 
URL:  http://www.hsu.edu/atchlec 

________________________________

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Susan van
Druten
Sent: Tue 11/25/2008 6:20 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: the most articulate American


Barack Obama.   

But you weren't really listening to Paul.  When he said he didn't want
to play best and worst list games, you said you agreed with him.  Clearly, you
do not agree with him.  I don't particularly think Obama is a great orator
(because politicians are full of b.s.), but since I'd rather listen to him
than Henry and since he's kinda in the news right now, he's my choice
for greatest political living orator.  As far as verbal skills--and not
speeches--go, I think Steven Colbert is very clever.  But he's playing the
role of a sophist.  I also like Mark Twain and George Orwell and H.L. Mencken.


On Nov 25, 2008, at 5:45 PM, Brad Johnston wrote:


Whadaya talking about? There are Best and Worst lists published every day.
Netflix sends you a DVD movie and asks you to grade it one to five: hated it,
didn't like it, liked it, liked it a lot, loved it. Then their computer
tells you what it thinks you'll grade a movie you haven't seen yet.
 
Every speech I ever gave I had a critic sitting in the back - a speech
professor if I could find one.
 
You don't like my choice, tell us what yours is.
 
Don't you pay attention to what people write and how they write it? If you
do, you must think some are better than others. Henry's going to be tough to
beat but go ahead and try it. Take a shot.
 
Anyone else want to take a shot and let Paul hunker down? It's not
Hemingway and it's not George Bush and it's not Mary Higgins Clark. Who
is it? Who's really got a handle on our language?
 
C'mon, gang. Who's really good at it?
 
--- On Tue, 11/25/08, Paul E. Doniger <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 
If you agreed with everything I said, then you wouldn't ask such a
question. I see no value in debating who is or who isn't a better user of
the English language than Henry Kissinger. I'd rather just dwell joyfully in
good language when I come across it and not make comparisons.