Are You Smarter Than A Seventh Grader?

My niece who lives and works in Sweden brought this bit of news to my attention following President Obama's speech on the BP Oil spill and Gulf relief efforts last week: CNN Asks: Was Obama’s 10th Grade Level Speech too Smart for America? Apparently, living in another country causes one to forget that this could very well be true in the U.S.

According to the report:

CNN relied on the analysis of “language guru” Paul J.J. Payack, president of Global Language Monitor. Payack determined that Obama’s oval office speech was written at nearly a 1oth grade level, specifically a 9.8 grade level. CNN concluded that “President Obama’s speech on the gulf oil disaster may have gone over the heads of many in his audience…”

Payack’s analysis found that the President’s “professorial” speech on the Gulf oil disaster used too many words in each sentence and each word was too big:


“Though the president used slightly less than four sentences per paragraph, his 19.8 words per sentence “added some difficulty for his target audience,” Payack said.

How low should he go? According to Payack, our President should speak to us at a seventh grade level.

I've always appreciated that President Obama talked to us like we were adults and that he didn't talk in bumper stickers (i.e., Drill Baby, Drill) and one-liners. In case you missed it, here is the complete text of his remarks.

What level do you think a statement like this would be?
"Well, let's see. There's ― of course in the great history of America there have been rulings that there's never going to be absolute consensus by every American, and there are those issues, again, like Roe v. Wade, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So, you know, going through the history of America, there would be others but ―" --Sarah Palin, unable to name a Supreme Court decision she disagreed with other than Roe vs. Wade, interview with Katie Couric, CBS News, Oct. 1, 2008


Or, this?
"There's an old saying in Tennessee—I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, fool me once, shame on—shame on you. Fool me—you can't get fooled again."—George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002

Please, President Obama, continue to speak in the eloquent and knowledgeable way that you do. Unlike others, you truly understand the situation. Personally, I don't want the President of the United States to sound like a dumb***.