Originally Posted by raymor

The study didn't analyze whether what he said was intelligent. It's a reading COMPREHENSION analysis, not a "this guy is smart" analysis. It analyzed what grade level education you'd need to understand his words. Lots of short, simple words versus longer, more nuanced words. In other words, Obama spoke as though he were talking to idiots, more Dr. Seus words, compared to previous presidents whose speeches were aimed at more educated people. Speak of reading comprehension ...

It's not surprising. Obama has a populist message and in 2008 a lot of his votes were from people who never voted before and people with little interest in or knowledge of politics. It only stands to reason that he would again try to energize the same people. Many of those supporters would be lost if he started talking about debt to GDP ratio.

Ross Perot would be an interesting contrast. He DID talk about things like debt to GDP ratio, using charts to try to educate the electorate about the issues.