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Thanks to Angie:

Obama's Use of Complete Sentences Stirs Controversy

In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect
Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over
the past eight years through his controversial use of
complete sentences, political observers say.

Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama's
appearance on CBS's 60 Minutes on Sunday witnessed the
president-elect's unorthodox verbal tick, which had Mr.
Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually
every time he opened his mouth.

But Mr. Obama's decision to use complete sentences in
his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks,
since after the last eight years many Americans may find his
odd speaking style jarring.

According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the
University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it
"alienating" to have a president who speaks
English as if it were his first language.

"Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and
verbs are in agreement," says Mr. Logsdon. "If he
keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an
elitist."

The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using
complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find
itself saying, "Okay, subject, predicate, subject
predicate -- we get it, stop showing off."

The president-elect's stubborn insistence on using
complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one
of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

"Talking with complete sentences there and also too
talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the
Plumber and Tito the Builder can't really do there, I
think needing to do that isn't tapping into what
Americans are needing also," she said.

Andy Borowitz is a comedian and writer whose work appears
in The New Yorker and The New York Times, and at his
award-winning humor site, BorowitzReport.com.