Cement, and the floppy sentence

I woke up this morning and heard Mitt Romney’s entire concession speech before coffee.

This is remarkable, because I very rarely watch TV, let alone first thing in my morning.

He looked neat, remarkably fresh. He stood up straight, and for all the world could have been the captain of a sports team at a prize-giving – except for his really well-made suit.

I notice suits. I spent years as a secretary in the corporate world. Enough said.

Obviously, other people notice suits and posture too. CNN switched to two of its presenters discussing his speech.  Forgive me, I do not know who they are. The two discussed how short and sweet his speech was, and remarked that it is hard to believe he looked so fresh and uncrumpled (my word, not theirs) at the end of such a demanding day. The one presenter (who should find a new tailor, or stop buying his suits off the rack) said as I have that Mr Romney stood very upright, and seemed a little stiff, but nevertheless made a good speech.

And then he said something which he probably wished he had not, and I quote verbatim,

If his suit had been made of cement he would not have been moving less than he was.

I beg your pardon? What? Huh?

If anyone had asked the presenter to repeat that sentence, I am not sure that he would have been able to muster the energy.

I suppose the presenter was trying to say that Mitt Romney looked as if he was wearing a cement suit.

That was enough for me to switch to a channel where I enjoyed hearing the acceptance speech of Barack Obama in which the “we are more than the sum of our individual ambitions” sentence delighted me with its structure, cadence and message.

I am not American, but I did like President Obama’s speech. It was very well written, and well said. I have no recollection of what suit he was wearing. And that is a good thing.

Allison

 

 

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