,
6 tweets,
1 min read
Read on Twitter
1. I don’t want to be churlish, or descend into pedantry. But I’m a little baffled by the Revolutionary War section of the president’s (generally anodyne) speech yesterday. He has a professional speechwriting team. Why can’t they get the timeline right?
2. He starts this section, "On this day, 243 years ago, our founding fathers pledged their lives…” Fair enough. We celebrate these events on July 4—not the 2nd or the 3rd, whenever they actually happened. I mention it here only because it’ll serve as his point of reference.
3. "Washington's message to his troops laid bare the stakes, He wrote, "The fate of unborn millions…” Now we’ve zoomed forward to August 27, and Washington’s address prior to the Battle of Long Island.
4. "Days later, General Washington ordered the declaration read aloud to the troops…” Wait. Now we’re on Tuesday, July 9—which is not, in fact, days after August 27.
5. The speech is littered with piddling little things like this. A list of unique American contributions comes with the claim that American love and unity “inspired Clara Barton to found the Red Cross.” Make that the *American* Red Cross, a new chapter of a global group.
6. This is not a reflection of any kind on the president himself, or the actual content or themes of the speech. But in past administrations, big, set-piece speeches of this kind have been highly polished and carefully checked. This one shows no evidence of that kind of care.
