A lot of praise in the blogs and on the WELL for Keith Olbermann’s speech about Donald Rumsfeld.

Me, I thought it was great that he said it, but I also thought the whole piece is likely to fly over too many heads. Really, liberals need to learn to express their opinions in plainer, shorter words.

“… sober contemplation … impugn the morality of … transient occupants … total omniscience … adroit in invoking the memory of …”

Olbermann’s speech is stirring but it’s the eighth-grade-reading-level folks, by and large, who we most need to communicate with. I wish just once these days I could hear about a powerful speech from a Democrat and then go read the transcript and not feel like the language is sending the subliminal message that social progress is a private club for the college educated.

Part of George W. Bush’s power is that he would never in a million years say something like “transient occupants”. He’d say “You know, those people aren’t going to be in those jobs forever”, and chuckle, and a few million Americans would chuckle with him for no other reason that they’re relieved for once not to be made to feel inferior and stupid by a politician making a speech.