WASHINGTON — For all his flourish, President Barack Obama sure falls back on a few familiar phrases: Make no mistake. Change isn’t easy. It won’t happen overnight.
Those who routinely listen to the president have come to expect some expressions to pop up in almost every speech. Yet in the portfolio of presidential phrases, none is more pervasive than Obama’s four-word favorite: Let me be clear.
It is his emphatic windup for, well, everything.
“Let me be clear,” he said in describing his surprise at winning the Nobel Peace Prize. “I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations.”
“Let me be clear,” he said of health care reform. “If you like your doctor or health care provider, you can keep them.” Terrorists? “Now let me be clear: We are indeed at war with al-Qaeda and its affiliates.” Student testing? “Let me be clear: Success should be judged by results, and data is a powerful tool to determine results.” Auto bailouts? “Let me be clear: The United States government has no interest in running GM.”
Obama has lightened the mood with the phrase too. He made state lawmakers laugh when he said the massive taxpayer-financed stimulus plan wouldn’t be spent on frivolous projects such as dog parks.
