For incredibly useful information on screenplays, professional writing queries, and just about everything else, John August is a staple. In his deconstruction of the inaugural speech, which was quite the syntactical paragon in the attempt to lift up rather than dumb down, he has this to say…

“Looking at the full text of the speech, I’m struck by something else: the punctuation… Yes, a semicolon. Best known to most Americans as half of a winking emoticon, this elite and misunderstood conjoiner has a friend in Obama. Yes, he’s using it as more of an oratorical pause than a semantic adhesive. And yes, this sentence likely went through several writers before its debut. But the fact our new President feels confident using it is another small cause for celebration on this very happy day.”

It gets more interesting when you cross reference Obama’s speech writer, 26-year-old diet coke sipping Jon Favreau with the amazing list of speeches that have come out of this past campaign. At 26, he’s still molting baby down feathers professionally, as witnessed when a prank (even the smartest boys tank about 60 iQ points when placed together with a web cam) led to revelations of private schoolboy MILF fantasies of Hilary Clinton’s cardboard cut-out splashed about on Facebook. In a benevolent pinch of the cheek, Clinton’s press coyly announced: “Senator Clinton is pleased to learn of Jon’s obvious interest in the State Department, and is currently reviewing his application.”

But still. Who knew writers could get themselves in so much trouble in this day and age. It’s inspiring really. Apparently the more genius they are, the more desperately they try to act normal.