杰姬·罗斯
《纽约客》杂志刊载的一篇文章指出，奥巴马具有“微妙地借用他的对话者的用语”的天赋，他“能讲美国的各种方言”。奥巴马对他为什么能够与白人选民沟通做出了自己的解释。他说：“我了解这些人。他们跟我的外祖父外祖母一样……他们的行为举止、他们的情感、他们的是非观——这一切我都非常熟悉。”
在现场听过奥巴马演讲的人都表示，奥巴马身上有一种难以描述的亲和力。有观众指出，“他的演说富有节奏感，味道十足，语气恰到好处，几乎带有一种催眠和传教的功能，让人如痴如醉，欲罢不能……”。
在奥巴马的演说现场，经常发生这样的情景：年轻人像参加摇滚音乐会那样聚集在舞台前面，忘情地跟着他呼喊口号，不时有人因兴奋过度而在台前昏倒。这时奥巴马会中断演说，到昏倒的选民面前吹气，然后大声喊他直至清醒过来。据说，为了应对经常出现的“奥迷”晕厥情况，奥巴马阵营甚至专门备有医疗队，在每一场演讲时待命。
不管面对的听众多还是少，尊贵还是卑贱，奥巴马都始终镇定从容。他对所有相关事实和数据的熟练掌握使他看上去令人信赖，此外，他特别注意研究自己面对的是什么样的听众，进而选用适合这类听众的语言。许多人希望自己能向巴拉克·奥巴马那样出口成章，拥有让大众信服的演讲能力。对大部分人来说，想在短期内实现这个目标恐怕没那么容易，但只要稍加注意和努力，同样能够拥有优秀的、令人信服的演讲能力。
以下是要注意的28条准则：
1.引介
准备一份打印好的介绍信，请引介你的人向观众清晰大声地逐句读出上面的内容。这样观众才能建立对你的信任和初步印象。
2.听众
你要讲的东西应该能令观众足够感兴趣，并让他们从中受益。
3.开头
30秒内抓住观众的注意力，否则你将永远失去他们。你可以用故事、提问，或者一首歌作为开场白，只要它们和你的演讲主题，或者在坐的观众能扯上关系。
4.正文
信息量要丰富，并让观众产生他们想要听到更多的感受。大部分人常犯的一个错误是，不顾观众感受，口若悬河地讲了太多。你要做的是，给观众留下好印象，而不是压倒他们。
5.结尾
一部电影即使情节再好，如果虎头蛇尾或者结尾令人失望，也会大大影响它的上座率。演讲也一样。为了对观众产生持久的影响力，你的演讲一定要有一个强有力的结尾。
6.故事
用你的故事或亲身经历来支持你的立论。观众更喜欢听你讲故事。
7.幽默感
让你的观众微笑甚至哈哈大笑。有趣的事物更容易让人们记住，接着他们就会注意到你、关注你。
8.注意力
吸引观众注意力的方法很多，一个笑话、一个故事、某个手势、某种姿态、适当的停顿……
9.真实性
展示真实的你。当你向观众展示的是生动真实的你时，他们也越容易被你感染。
10.信心
有时难免会紧张，但这点你不必和观众分享。尽力表现出信心满满的样子，渐渐地你就会平静下来。
11.准备充分
你准备得越充分，就能表现得越自信。
12.停顿
当你想说什么想要观众记住的事情时，停顿，沉默数秒，让观众注视你。注意这里说的停顿不是说什么“啊”，“哦”，或者是你因为忘词卡住的那种停顿。
13.变换音调
你的音调要和演讲内容相匹配。
14.肢体语言
你可以用肢体语言表现演讲内容。比如当你在讲一个打电话的故事时，那么就可以做出举着听筒打电话的样子。
15.戒掉坏习惯
诸如来回走动、手插在口袋里、前后摇摆等动作都会分散观众的注意力。尽力避免由于紧张而不自觉地做出上述动作！
16.眼神交流
直视听众。将你的视线平静地由一边移到观众中间，然后再移向另一边。
17.掌握时间
遵守分派给你的演讲时间，并且做好万一时间被临时缩短的准备。
18.学会和观众套近乎
找到拉近你和观众距离的某种纽带。
19.控制现场秩序
你站在台上，现场秩序由你控制。如果观众席里有人在你演讲时高谈阔论，你要立刻停下来。
20.把握主题
当现场提问偏离演讲主题时，你可以这么回答：你很乐意在演讲结束后对这个问题给出答案。
21.辅助演讲材料
辅助演讲材料可以是印刷品、白报纸、幻灯片等等。
22.树立你的形象
表现出你想要观众感受到的形象，并付之以言行。
23.向观众发放演讲稿
上面要留下你的个人信息，方便观众可以联系到你。
24.着装
你的穿着应当让你看上去非常健康。
25.把你的演讲进行录音或录像
反复观摩，你会意识到自己有很多的地方需要提升或改进。
26.突出卖点
如果你想向听众兜售什么东西，那就一定要突出这个东西的卖点。
27.倾听观众
要让观众向你打开心扉，倾听他们的感受，收集有价值的信息，为下次演讲做好准备。
28．重复
重复，是奥巴马在演讲中应用的最频繁的演讲技巧之一。
以上28条技巧，我相信只要你能做到其中一半，就能征服坐在你面前的观众。亲爱的朋友们，努力加油，总有一天，也会有人因为听到你的演讲而深受鼓舞和感动的，这不仅是你的魅力，也是演讲本身的魅力所在。
第一章 University of Massachusetts
at Boston Commencement Address
Boston，MA |June 2，2006
Good morning President Wilson，Chancellor Collins，the Board of Trustees，faculty，parents，family，friends，and the Class of 2006. Congratulations on your graduation，and thank you for allowing me the honor to be a part of it.
It’s always great to be back in Boston. As some of you may have heard，I was here a few years ago to give the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic Convention.
It was an amazing experience for me. A humbling honor. A tremendous opportunity. And if you had come up to me a few years earlier and told me I’d be there，I would’ve politely told you that you were out of your mind.
Let me tell you what happened at the last convention I had been to.
It was the year 2000，and I had just gotten my rear-end handed to me in my very first race for Congress. Didn’t even make it past the primary. I was a little depressed，and more than a little broke，but some friends suggested that I get my mind off it by going to Los Angeles，where that year’s Democratic Convention was being held.
So I decided to go. And when my plane landed in LA，I got my luggage，walked on over to the Hertz counter，filled out all the forms to rent a car，gave my credit card to the nice woman behind the counter who，moments later，handed it back to me and said，“Mr. Obama，it seems we have a problem.”
That’s right，my credit card was denied.
After thirty more minutes of haggling，I finally made it to the convention，only to learn that I was thought of so highly by the Democratic Party that my credentials barely granted me access to the men’s room-let alone backstage where all the action was. And so，being the VIP that I was，I spent the rest of the week as the guy in the room who nobody knew，but everyone knew didn’t belong.
Needless to say，when they asked me to be the convention’s keynote speaker just four years later，I made sure I was getting a car.
All joking aside，receiving that honor was a welcome change-and，as MasterCard could attest，more than a little unlikely.
But of course，America is an unlikely place-a country built on defiance of the odds；on a belief in the impossible. And I remind you of this because as you set out to live your own stories of success and achievement，it’s now your turn to help keep it this way.
It’s your turn to keep this daringly radical but unfailingly simple notion of America alive - that no matter where you’re born or how much your parents have；no matter what you look like or what you believe in，you can still rise to become whatever you want；still go on to achieve great things；still pursue the happiness you hope for.
Today，this dream sounds common-perhaps even cliche-yet for most of human history it’s been anything but. As a servant of Rome，a peasant in China，or a subject of King George，there were very few unlikely futures. No matter how hard you worked or struggled for something better，you knew you’d spend your life forced to build somebody else’s empire；to sacrifice for someone else’s cause.
But as the centuries passed，the people of the world grew restless. They were tired of tyranny and weary of their lot in life. And as they saw merchants start to sail across oceans and explorers set off in search of new worlds，they followed.