Language and the Democratic Frontrunners

Jesse Wendel has posted a very interesting commentary at the Group News Blog on the language used by Barack Obama, John Edwards, and Hillary Clinton in their pursuit of the White House.

Wendel looks at the speaking styles that each candidate tends to use and compares their approach to:

• a worker (stresses their skills and ability to do the work),
• a manager (frames things as requests so that we can accomplish certain things together), and
• an executive / leader (makes fundamental declarations of how things are and will be).

I'm not sure how much language has influenced Obama's recent surge, but I think the author makes a good point that a candidate's choice of language underscores how they see themselves and offers some insight into how they would approach the Presidency.

It's an interesting read. Check it out here.