Obama's Inaugural Word Cloud Is Pretty Bossy

Katherine Mangu-Ward | 1.22.2013 9:44 AM

Good morning and welcome to Obama's America: The Revenge. Here's a word cloud of his 2013 inaugural address, with the top 100 words used in the speech. The size of the word indicates its frequency of use:

People must.

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some guy 13 years ago

Ameican people must make new country.

Got it.
1. BakedPenguin 13 years ago
  
  American people: make your time! All your freedom are belong to us!
  1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
    
    For great justice.
2. Rights-Minimalist Autocrat 13 years ago
  
  American people must time God.
An0nB0t 13 years ago

Look at how cute the witty-bitty word liberty is. So adorable.
1. robc 13 years ago
  
  Liberty is in their twice, once capitalized, once not.
  
  Someone forget to turn off case sensitivity before creating that.
  1. An0nB0t 13 years ago
    
    The slightly larger one must be the male.
  2. AlmightyJB 13 years ago
    
    Maybe it's like the big L small L libertarian.
  3. Ace Sullivan 13 years ago
    
    its about the size as 'person'. makes sense.
  4. PS 13 years ago
    
    That's pretty Rain Man of you to notice.
    1. robc 13 years ago
      
      You are the 2nd person (on two different sites) to call me "Rain man" this month.
      
      I have never flown Qantas.
      1. Sudden 13 years ago
        
        There is a theory that all libertarians have Asperger's.
        
        Stormy Dragon 13 years ago
        
        That's impossible. I've met libertarians who aren't computer programmers.
  5. Rights-Minimalist Autocrat 13 years ago
    
    I like how it's next to security. I think we're being trolled.
LTC(ret) John 13 years ago

OBEY!
Bruce Majors 13 years ago

"Drone" wasn't in there.
1. BarryD 13 years ago
  
  "Kill list" wasn't either.
2. JW 13 years ago
  
  'Clear' and 'those' also missing.
  
  It's a trap!
Bruce Majors 13 years ago

?"I have a dream!" - MLK, 1963
"I have a drone!" - BHO, MLK Day 2013
1. Libertymike 13 years ago
  
  No credit to LewRockwell?
  
  That's okay, I posted the same thing a few minutes ago on Volokh without proper attribution.
  1. Zeb 13 years ago
    
    That seems like the sort of thing that several people might come up with independently.
    1. Libertymike 13 years ago
      
      True. Who's to say that Laurence Vance came up with it first?
2. Proprietist 13 years ago
  
  Dead at last! Thank God almighty, they are dead at last!
Tim 13 years ago

That's the most must ever!
The Late P Brooks 13 years ago

You peasants cannot be relied upon to act in your my best interests.

You need coaching. And discipline.
HazelMeade 13 years ago

God, must people make a new country every time?
1. An0nB0t 13 years ago
  
  If the Koch bros or Thiel think it's time to buy the USS Liberty and start the grand libertarian seastead experiment, count me in.
2. John 13 years ago
  
  Cut him some slack. It is really hard to make a country worthy of him.
Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago

So they don't count personal pronouns?
1. John 13 years ago
  
  No. But if they did, you would get this
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01UipbZL3ww
AlmightyJB 13 years ago

Hope sure did shrink after four years. I'm glad to see act is one of the smaller words.
1. HazelMeade 13 years ago
  
  Is Change even in there?
  1. AlmightyJB 13 years ago
    
    Yeah. Right next to must.
el Diablo Gigante 13 years ago

lets play finish the sentence:

People Must: "Bend over and take it"

I Won. Twice.

This country is so fucked.
The Late P Brooks 13 years ago

Surprisingly enough, I don't see the word "CUT" in there anywhere.
1. John 13 years ago
  
  War was very small when you consider the speech was being given by President Drone Strike.
  1. Sudden 13 years ago
    
    Kinetic military action, please.
Michael 13 years ago

As depressing as that is overall, I find a bit of relief in the omission of roads.
1. Andrew S. 13 years ago
  
  Where we're going, we don't need roads.
  1. some guy 13 years ago
    
    ... or eyes.
    1. Sudden 13 years ago
      
      or freedom.
Fatty Bolger 13 years ago

7.8% unemployment, shitty economy, huge amounts of people on welfare - and look at how tiny "jobs" is. And maybe I missed it, but I don't even see the word "economy."
1. John 13 years ago
  
  It isn't there. But "economic" is a tiny word at the top left corner just below the even smaller "science".
  
  And we don't talk about the economy anymore. Horrible growth, unemployment and hopelessness is the new normal. We just can't expect to do any better.
  1. Libertymike 13 years ago
    
    How about Tom Brady being 3-5 in his last 8 playoff games?
    
    In the Brady v. Manning debate, you can't forget that it was Manning who overcame a 21-3 deficit to Brady and the Patriots in the 2006 AFC championship game.
    
    It was Manning who overcame a 20 point lead with 5 minutes to go in the 4th quarter on that Monday night game in Tampa on October 6, 2003 - against one
    of the best defenses of all time.
    
    It was Manning who overcame a 31-14 deficit to Brady and the Patriots in the infamous "fourth and two" game on November 15, 2009.
    
    In the last 5 years, Matty Ice has the most 4th quarter and OT game winning drives. Then comes Breez in second and Manning is third - notwithstanding the fact that he missed an entire season!
    
    All time, Manning is the best when it comes to 4th quarter comebacks and 4th quarter and OT game winning drives. Better than Montana. Better than Brady. Better than Elway. Better than Marino.
    
    Of course, 4th quarter comebacks and 4th quarter and OT game winning drives should not be the sin qua non of evaluating quarterbacks. But, in my view, it is a better measurement than post season performance. We have to keep in mind that playoffs in professional sports amount to do-overs. The regular seasons have been devalued, cheapened, etc.
    1. some guy 13 years ago
      
      Of course, 4th quarter comebacks and 4th quarter and OT game winning drives should not be the sin qua non of evaluating quarterbacks.
      
      Yeah. The best quarterbacks don't need to come from behind at the end of the game.
      
      Steve Young. Bestest QB evar.
      
      Young led the league in passer rating an unequaled six times, including four straight seasons from 1991 to 1994, and topped the 100 passer-rating mark in all four of those seasons. Every single one of those marks are unequaled.
      
      And over those four years, Young averaged 8.71 yards every time he attempted to pass. To put THAT mark in perspective ? and pigskin perspective is what we're all about ? the brilliant Peyton Manning has topped 8.71 YPA in a single season just once (2004).
      
      The period of dominance was highlighted by the greatest Super Bowl performance in history: a 67-percent, 325 yard, 6-TD, 0 INT explosion in a 49-26 victory over overwhelmed San Diego in Super Bowl XXIX.
      
      And let's not forget: Young rushed for 43 TDs.
      1. John 13 years ago
        
        And lets not forget twice Steve Young played the Aikman lead Cowboys in the NFC title game with a team of equal talent and twice lost badly. No way does Young even get into the discussion of best ever. Very good, sure, very best, no way.
        
        some guy 13 years ago
        
        Both of those times, the Cowboys were the best team in football. And the losses were by 10 and 17 points. Young lost, but not "badly". Buffalo is who ended up losing "badly" to Aikman those years. Every QB you could think to put in the top spot has had a few game where they came up short. Can you think of anyone else who is 2 games away from having 5 Super Bowl wins?
        
        Just look at Young's passer rating, TD and YPA stats over his career. Combine that with that fact that he has the most rushing TDs of any QB ever, and he is the best QB ever.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        But San Fransisco had just as much talent as Dallas. Dallas was the best team in football mainly because Aikman outplayed Young in both of those games.
        
        some guy 13 years ago
        
        But San Fransisco had just as much talent as Dallas. Dallas was the best team in football mainly because Aikman outplayed Young in both of those games.
        
        Fine. But can you point to a single other QB who never got outplayed? Remember we're talking about best QB ever, not best playoff QB ever (which would undeniably be Bart Starr.)
    2. John 13 years ago
      
      Any talk of Brady being the best ever should end. If you compare him to other QBs in the Super Bowl era he comes up short. Montana was not perfect. He lost playoff games. But Montana, with the lone exception of a completely inexplicable division round loss at home to the Vikings in 1987, never lost in the playoffs when he was on the better team.
      
      Brady and Manning both have made careers out of leading great teams into the playoffs and then losing at home to inferior teams. Montana never lost to a team like the Mark Sanchez lead Jets or got blown out at home by a Ravens team that didn't even make the Super Bowl.
      
      I really think Brady is not even in the top five. I would put Montana, Elway and Bradshaw one two three. And then I am not sure I would put Troy Aikman and Marino above both Brady and Manning. Aikman won three Super Bowls and never lost in the playoffs with a superior team. And Marino's numbers came in an age before they made it practically illegal to cover a receiver.
      1. Libertymike 13 years ago
        
        Regarding Montana, I essentially agree except how do you explain the 49-3 trouncing by the Giants in the divisional round in 1986? Sure, you could argue that the Giants were better in 1986 - they did go on to win the Super Bowl. However, its not like the Giants were 9 point favorites like the Pats were over the Ravens. No, I don't know what the spread was off the top of my head, but, as I was rooting for the Giants in that game, I remember being scared of the 49ers and you might remember that Montana hit Jerry Rice on the first play of the game and Rice fumbled away what would have been a touchdown.
        
        How about the 1983 championship game against the Redskins? The Skins, as defending champs, at home, were favored. You might recall that Joe engineered a very nice comeback only to be screwed by one of the worst calls in playoff history.
        
        Do you think that AIkman would have got the 2009 Colts to the Super Bowl? I am not buying that. Don't forget that Manning had 7 of those 4th quarter / OT game winning drives that season. If a team got up a couple of scores on Dallas, Aikman was not going to come to the rescue.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        Montana was hurt fairly early in that game. And I don't hold losing to a Giants team that people were comparing to the previous year's Bears team against him.
        
        And Montana played well enough to win that 1983 game. The Redskins won thanks some of the worst officiating ever seen in a championship game.
      2. hamilton 13 years ago
        
        You're kidding me. If the world ended after the 2007 season you would trivially put Brady in the top 5 (3-1 Super bowls, a perfect regular season that was one freak play away from being a perfect season in total, the highest scoring offense ever, two SB MVP's). How on earth could he drop in that estimation by adding more to his resume in his later years?
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        Adding what? Losing to forgettable Jets and Ravens teams? Playing average games in two Super Bowls? You take his career as a whole. Brady has lost too many games he should have won to make the top five.
        
        hamilton 13 years ago
        
        But that's stupid. If he was already top 5 (against guys who are ouf of football) 8 years into his carer, then his play in his (admittedly, declining) years should not negatively impact that. You're saying he'd have been better off historically if instead of the ACL tear he was hit by a bus.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        That is not stupid. What is stupid is pretending that nothing you do later in your career can ever take away from what you did earlier. That is stupid. You judge a player's career as a whole. The fact that Brady has turned into Payton Manning after 2007, means something.
        
        And this year's loss was especially bad. New England had a good defense and a running game. This was the most balanced and best put together team New England has had since its last Super Bowl. And Brady can't put up a single point in the second half against a Ravens' defense that played over five quarters at altitude in Denver just a week before?
        
        Forget it. Brady has lost his claim at being one of the all time greats.
        
        robc 13 years ago
        
        I will make a baseball argument here.
        
        If a player drops below replacement level, then and only then is he hurting his career.
        
        Brady may be pulling down his average, but he is still WELL above replacement level.
        
        Sanchez, OTOH, may have hurt his career totals this year.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        Rob,
        
        Brady is still very good. And he is without question a Hall of Fame player. But we are talking about Best Ever here. That is pretty rarefied air. So losing games like the one Sunday hurt your case.
        
        Randian 13 years ago
        
        And Brady can't put up a single point in the second half against a Ravens' defense that played over five quarters at altitude in Denver just a week before?
        
        Seriously, it isn't as if the Ravens secondary was doing...well, anything at all, really.
        
        Almanian. 13 years ago
        
        I thought it was a team sport. And I think those surrounding Brady are not as good compared to past teams, whereas he seems every bit as good most of the time.
        
        My error.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        Almanian,
        
        The Patriots have more talent than almost any team in the league. Even without Gronk, they still have a great young tight end and one of the best recievers in the league. And their defense was the best they have had since 04.
        
        The 16-0 team didn't run the football at all at the end of the year and had a below average defense. But this team didn't. This team had all of the parts.
        
        And even in the other years, had the Patriots lost to an eventual champion, I would cut Brady some slack. But they didn't. The Patriots certainly had more talent than the Jets. And just as much or more than the Ravens a couple of years ago.
        
        Randian 13 years ago
        
        they still have a great young tight end
        
        No one's going to touch that? Really?
        
        KDN 13 years ago
        
        And their defense was the best they have had since 04.
        
        The 16-0 team didn't run the football at all at the end of the year and had a below average defense.
        
        The 2006 team was 4th in weighted DVOA & 7th in unadjusted (-13.4% / -9.2%, lower is better) whereas they were 7th in both in 2004 (-10.7%). This year's team was 15th and 14th (+1.3% / -0.8%).
        
        The defense wasn't all that impressive; it was a league-average defense just like they've trotted out every year from 2007 on, with the exception of last year's trainwreck. New England used to win championships because they had good defenses. They now fail to win them because they don't.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        I don't see how you can put Brady above Aikman. Aikman won three Super Bowls too. Aikman went 10-1 in his first eleven playoff games. If you are going to get into the game of just throwing out the last part of players' careers, then throw out the last few years of Aikman's career and it looks just like Brady.
        
        And Brady never won a blowout Superbowl. He needed two field goals and completely incompetent clock management by Andy Reid to win his. Aikman was not even challenged in two of his wins.
        
        some guy 13 years ago
        
        In all fairness, half of the NFC could have beaten Buffalo those years. The AFC was just that bad in the early 90's.
        
        Ted S. 13 years ago
        
        Aikman didn't have to deal with the ravages of free agency in that part of his career.
        
        Mike M. 13 years ago
        
        The Patriots have been so loaded with talent on offense for so long now that they even made a horrendous quarterback like Matt Cassel look like he was good when he had to fill in that year Brady got injured.
        
        Brady has been extremely lucky to play behind one of the best offensive lines in the league for virtually his entire career. If you put him behind a line that was just mediocre, he wouldn't be able to do much of anything.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        If you put him behind a line that was just mediocre, he wouldn't be able to do much of anything.
        
        Brady's performance against the Giants' pass rush in the two Super Bowls makes you think that there is some truth there.
        
        KDN 13 years ago
        
        Brady's performance against the Giants' pass rush in the two Super Bowls makes you think that there is some truth there.
        
        To say nothing of his first few years' offense being one screen pass after another. Can't do that and be successful unless you have a skilled and really athletic line.
        
        Mike M. 13 years ago
        
        Even now, with all the incredible talent he has around him, he hardly ever throws deep down the field. So many of his yards come from those flanker screen passes behind the line of scrimmage that turn into 20 yard gains because of the great blocking.
      3. KDN 13 years ago
        
        Tom Brady: the bizarro Elway.
    3. Tango Mike 13 years ago
      
      It's hard to win when they won't let you cheat anymore.
      1. Mike M. 13 years ago
        
        I love watching Belicheat lose big games, mostly because he's the sorest loser in the entire league. He's just a total prick to his core.
2. An0nB0t 13 years ago
  
  Wanted: scare quotes
  
  "7.8%"
Way Of The Crane 13 years ago

Given how small the "HOPE" is, I assume we're supposed to abandon it.
1. AlmightyJB 13 years ago
  
  Now, you know what they say abouthopes-- they're what weclingto when reality has left us nothing else.
Zeb 13 years ago

What the fuck is a word cloud, and why should I care?
1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
  
  You'll care, mister, when some word lightning comes out of that cloud and strikes your comment dead!
2. Way Of The Crane 13 years ago
  
  I think you meant to ask this question of the all-knowing Google, not a bunch of smart-ass H&R commenters.
  1. Zeb 13 years ago
    
    Nah, this is more amusing.
3. Randian 13 years ago
  
  Seriously, word clouds are fucking stupid.
hamilton 13 years ago

It'd be cool to see th word cloud for Washington's second inaugural, or Lincoln's, or other fun guys compared to the above.
1. Almanian. 13 years ago
  
  I'd like to see a Gabby Giffords word cloud pre- and post-"the incident".
  
  Too soon? Too course?
  
  Whatever - I wanna see it.
  1. Almanian. 13 years ago
    
    "Too course"? Really, self? Really.
    
    "Coarse." Of course.
  2. JW 13 years ago
    
    The publicity whoring Giffords gives real whores a bad name.
    
    Holy fuck, is she narcissistic and venal, but the proles eat it up due to her heroic action of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
    1. Ted S. 13 years ago
      
      What pisses me off is how all the attention goes to the government-sector worker and the child, and screw all the other people who were killed.
2. Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
  
  Washington
  
  Lincoln
  
  (Java required)
  1. Raston Bot 13 years ago
    
    Thanks.
    
    Washington - Oath Now
    
    Lincoln - War God
Almanian. 13 years ago

I don't know about word clouds, but I sent out a cloud of used Mexican food last night.

It smelled about as good as the President's speech must have sounded. I wouldn't know because I literally can't stand to listen to him talk any more, so we watched Top Gear and stuff.

I like turtles.

That is all.
robc 13 years ago

Washington's First Inaugural Address
1. robc 13 years ago
  
  Washington's 2nd was two paragraphs long, no need to cloud it up, just read it:
  
  Fellow Citizens:
  
  I AM again called upon by the voice of my country to execute the functions of its Chief Magistrate. When the occasion proper for it shall arrive, I shall endeavor to express the high sense I entertain of this distinguished honor, and of the confidence which has been reposed in me by the people of united America.
  Previous to the execution of any official act of the President the Constitution requires an oath of office. This oath I am now about to take, and in your presence: That if it shall be found during my administration of the Government I have in any instance violated willingly or knowingly the injunctions thereof, I may (besides incurring constitutional punishment) be subject to the upbraidings of all who are now witnesses of the present solemn ceremony.
2. John 13 years ago
  
  But he was a racist slave holder Rob. And that speech is really old, like thousands of years. No one understands that stuff anymore. Didn't they give speeches in Sanskrit back then?
robc 13 years ago

Washington's Farewell Address
robc 13 years ago

Notice that in both his 1st and farewell address, the word MAY is large, unlike MUST in Obama's.
robc 13 years ago

Lincoln's 2nd

Anyone want to guess the biggest word before clicking thru?
Pro Libertate 13 years ago

I don't recognize the authority of the president to command me to do things. And I even more don't recognize the moral authority of this president to make strong suggestions that I act a certain way.
1. John 13 years ago
  
  Pro,
  
  You read historical fiction don't you? I am reading a book called When God and His Saints Slept. It is about the civil war between Stephen and Maude in 12th Century England. It is one of the best pieces of historical fiction I have ever read.
  1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
    
    Huh. Interesting period--may have to read.
    
    It's Christ, though, right?
    1. John 13 years ago
      
      Christ and his Saints. I highly recommend it. It is part of a trilogy that goes on to talk about Henry and Elinor and then their children.
      1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        Which is one of the most interesting periods in English history, of course.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        She is really a great writer. He characters are fully developed and interesting. For the first part of the book you find yourself sympathizing with Maude, right up until she captures Stephen and takes the crown. Now you sympathize with Stephen. They both were in different ways entirely unfit to rule and sympathetic characters as long as they were not monarchs.
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        I have reserved at the library.
Tulpa (LAOL-PA) 13 years ago

Apparently it doesn't count "uh" as a word either.
Raston Bot 13 years ago

Hardest. Crossword Puzzle. Ever.
Mensan 13 years ago

Should not a word cloud for any Obama speech be a giant "I" and a big "ME" surrounded by a bunch of much smaller words?

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Obama's Inaugural Word Cloud Is Pretty Bossy

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