A quick analysis of
the 2015 SOTU Address
Lately, the State of the Union speech has been getting more and more quantitative analysis – the Washington Post today has time frames for how long the President spoke about education, immigration, economics, and other major topics compare to last year (Example: 2015, 25:06 minutes on economic opportunity versus 8:23 in 2014.) There are graphs and bubbles, maps and timelines, depicting how times and presidents have changed.
Lately, the State of the Union speech has been getting more and more quantitative analysis – the Washington Post today has time frames for how long the President spoke about education, immigration, economics, and other major topics compare to last year (Example: 2015, 25:06 minutes on economic opportunity versus 8:23 in 2014.) There are graphs and bubbles, maps and timelines, depicting how times and presidents have changed.
Quantified Perception has
been following the semantic content of the SOTU for several years, has a
slightly different spin, looking at the words from the President. This analysis
uses the transcript of the speech, rather than the prepared text. There are
minor differences between what was written and what was said.
There was a lot of “we”
used last night – “we are,” “we can,”, “we need.” A total of 136 “we”’s this
year, versus only 91 in 2014, plus an additional 28 “we’ve” and “we’re.” (19 in
2014) Apparently we are more cohesive
after the divisive mid-term campaigns and elections. There was also a lot of “new”
and “more” last night. The ten repetitions of “this congress” were mostly
positive or neutral, not particularly accusatory, supporting the notion of
greater bipartisan cooperation, in the mind of the President, at least. And he
was conciliatory in explaining “that’s why” for many of the steps moving
forward.
“Surely we can” show more
comity in politics than has become the norm throughout his six years so far. We
are, after all, a “strong tight nit family” – “all of us.”
“Surely we can agree”
that “middle class economics” should get mentioned, although this is the first
time Obama has raised it using that particular phrase In a SOTU.
Phrase
|
Count
|
Adjusted
Count
|
we are
|
24
|
72
|
we can
|
14
|
42
|
we need to
|
7
|
42
|
more
|
41
|
41
|
new
|
41
|
41
|
for the first time
|
4
|
40
|
strong tight knit family
|
4
|
40
|
we need
|
12
|
36
|
surely we can
|
6
|
36
|
will
|
34
|
34
|
I want
|
11
|
33
|
that’s why
|
11
|
33
|
this congress
|
10
|
30
|
all of us
|
5
|
30
|
middle class economics
|
5
|
30
|
surely we can agree
|
3
|
30
|
we believed we could
|
3
|
30
|
