I mentioned earlier this evening the extraordinary picture of a marked-up page of a presidential speech, showing ways in which Obama had improved the grace and cadence of various sentences.
On the other hand:
After looking more closely at the huge-scale version, I see that we now have photographic proof that the lamentable standard ending of his speeches is not some ad-libbed tic:
There's another line you could have crossed out there, Mr. President! Maybe the previous lines would have served as, you know, an "ending." They're not that bad!
I still believe that we can act when it's hard. I still believe we can replace acrimony with civility, and gridlock with progress. I still believe we can do great things, and that here and now we will meet history's test. Because that's who we are. That is our calling. That is our character.
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James Fallows is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and has written for the magazine since the late 1970s. He has reported extensively from outside the United States and once worked as President Carter's chief speechwriter. He and his wife, Deborah Fallows, are the authors of the new book Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey Into the Heart of America, which has been a New York Times best seller and is the basis of a forthcoming HBO documentary.