Like many, I was deeply moved by Barack Obama’s inauguration speech. In spite of this, I can’t at this moment remember a single word of what he said. And this troubles me slightly, in spite of my mild disdain for the sound-bite-centered language of the era we live in. I’ve recently been reading Words That Work by Frank Luntz, the man that has helped define the messages that have been helping the GOP win elections for over a decade. Luntz comes across to me as kind of an arrogant jerk, but I guess if you’re the Wizard to to the GOP’s Land of Oz, you’re entitled to poke out from behind the curtain once in a while. If you read around his gloating and self-aggrandizement, the book is full of excellent insights. Insights about language which I hope are put to work in Obama’s speech Tuesday night; this is an incredibly critical moment, with the global economy more obviously lurching back toward a downward spiral after what was feeling like a brief pause, and world leaders rattling sabres as they’re obligated to do at times like this. One hope I have is that he can provide a galvanizing message, as he did so well during the elections. America needs a simple set of words to pull it together. I certainly wouldn’t want Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau’s job at this point. See this US News piece for some amusing insight into how the guy works. Can he come up with the next “Nothing to fear but fear itself” or “Ask not what your country can do for you”?