The imperial "I": not nearly as rare as Jeff Jacoby thinks

Published Nov 14 2009, 08:00 PM by Adam Reilly

A few minutes ago, I raised some questions about Jeff Jacoby's column on Barack Obama's allegedly outsized ego. One of my queries: had Jacoby--who notes that Obama used the pronoun "I" 34 times in his speech announcing the federal takeover of GM--sought similar data on other presidents? And if so, why hadn't he included it?

Just for the heck fo it, I figured I'd take a look myself. And what do you know: 34 uses of "I" isn't all that many. Consider the following examples of Republican presidents and presidential candidates who've dug the pronoun too:

--Ronald Reagan used "I" 60 times in his farewell address and 32 times in his "Tear down this wall!" speech;

--John McCain used "I" 112 times when he accepted the Republican presidential nomination last year;

--George W. Bush used "I" 17 times in his speech following 9/11;

--Barry Goldwater used "I" 32 times in his 1964 speech accepting the GOP nomination;

--George H.W. Bush used "I" 27 times in his 1989 inaugual address;

--Sarah Palin wanted to say "I" 20 times in the victory speech she didn't get to give and 27 times in her never-delivered concession speech (both texts here).

C'mon, Jeff. You can do better.

Filed Under: Boston Globe, Barack Obama, jeff jacoby

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5 Comments

Michael Pahre said:

I don't know what we should make of this.

Fabulous.

November 14, 2009 11:32 PM
ari said:

Um, why is it weird to hear in a speech "I believe..." or "I think..."

Also, you could probably do the same thing with "me," but then you would hear Obama say things like "This is not about my opponent, and it's not about me. This campaign is about you."

November 15, 2009 1:52 PM
Adam Reilly said:

Ari: It's not weird at all! That's exactly the point.

November 15, 2009 2:54 PM
David said:

No, Adam! No, Jeff Jacoby absolutely cannot "do better." If reading through his turgid, whiny, and selectively (un)supported columns has shown you anything, it's that he is incapable of doing anything better as a columnist.

C'mon, Adam.

November 16, 2009 9:23 AM
Brad Deltan said:

Jacoby can do better? I thought his last DECADE of not-worthy-to-wrap-my-fish-in columns rather expertly proved that he can't.

November 17, 2009 9:07 PM

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The imperial "I": not nearly as rare as Jeff Jacoby thinks

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