Obama's '8th grade reading level' SOTU address: By the numbers

And heaven help you at McD's and the computers aren't working and they actually have to add up the cost of your order and make change without the computer giving it all to them on the screen.

10.4
Average grade level of George W. Bush's addresses

Right you are Topkick. The listening level of the average American is about 5th grade, reading 7th grade and comprehension is, I'm guessing, about 3rd grade.
REALLY scary when you consider those are AVERAGE numbers. Which of course means 1/2 the population is worse than that.

Started reading at 2. Reading at a college level by middle school.
And yes, yes it does.

Touche'

Insomomniac, you read at 8th grade level when you were 5.
You are a Ledgend in your own mind.

he needs to use more spanish and jive then.

He was singing an Al Greene tune the other night.

One way you can tell is by the things they read and don't understand. Income tax instructions are near the high end, a little below Nietsche and Kant. The Constitution is somewhere below that, judging from the misconceptions. A lot of political commentary is below that, but often poorly written. The teachings of Jesus are fairly simple (if you aren't reading the King James version) but inconvenient to follow.

You also lower the reading level when you have a high percent of your audience not understanding the tenets of the Constitution.

The teachings of Jesus are simple indeed, yet the ability to adhere to them is the difficult part. I didn't find the King James version difficult to read, although it was a challenge to discover more accurate definitions contained in an older language compared to modern terms. And being that the constitution was written in a similarly "old school" fashion I suppose it would make for more tedious reading than contemporary writing. As important as they are, both the Bible and the Constitution have to be read carefully and repeatedly, if you want to really understand them fully. In the end you do have to match the audience in their broad ability to easily understand what you're saying in a speech to millions of people, so I have no problem with that unless it's insultingly manufactured. It's just as important to me not to be artificially "folksy". Unfortunately, most politicians are excatly that and I don't pay too much attention to carefully orchestrated and/or generic speeches.

Reagan....Now we are talking about the worst president ever. He was just a actor.

He also read from a telepromter. So did Romney and don't forget about GW Bush, oh wait, so did Mitch Daniels. Did you not follows his eyes as he read from another telepromter? The only one that speaks from the 68 year old hip is GingRick(sp), and Republicans are nowmworried about the words that seem to just roll off of his tongue(smile). He'll probably need a telepromter in order to watch his words when he runs in the general election(smile). You're thinking that since he was an actor that he could just memorize his lines, think again. Good luck JamesM.

Sorry Today; Reagan read from file cards in ramdom order. Reagan spoke to the people.
Beenthere: You are living through the worst President.