His critics said the tone and tenor of the speech was confrontational and accusatory.
So as much as I enjoyed the tenor of the speech and the old feelings that he revived, I can't help but think it's too late for this Obama to show up now.
Indeed, in terms of the tenor of the speech, Obama could only be described as the anti-Bush: very cautious and very methodical; not an idealist, but a realist.
The tenor of the speech, his sunny optimism about the nation's condition and its future, and his effort to associate his party with "rising incomes and chances for everyone" set the stage for the theme every incumbent party hopes to be able to wield: Don't mess with success.
This won't show up in a final decree from the gathered Heads of Government, but will more likely be evident in the tenor of their speeches, the side conversations between leaders, and their willingness to focus on what they are prepared to commit to next year rather than a simple regurgitation of what they aren't prepared to do.
As Glenn Greenwald has pointed out, those two sentences seem to contradict the entire tenor of Mr. Obama's speech, and of a letter to Congress from Attorney General Eric Holder.
Anyone who expected Mr. Netanyahu's visit to be a series of red-meat speeches whipping up American Jewish pressure on the Administration may have been surprised by the mild, careful tenor of his words.
Re "Bush, Accepting G.O.P. Nomination, Pledges to 'Use These Good Times for Great Goals' " (front page, Aug. 4): The tone and the tenor of George W. Bush's acceptance speech reminded me of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Mr Karzai acknowledged there were difficult issues involved in the deal, but according to the BBC's Kabul correspondent David Loyn, the tenor of the president's speech was to advise delegates to accept the agreement.
The highlights were the wonderful eggshell arcs of Partch's "Seventeen Lyrics of Li Po" (excerpted), with Mary Nessinger's mezzo-soprano balanced on the cusp of speech and song, supported by the swoopings of the tenor violin played by Theodore Mook.
The assignment also shows knowledge of Speech Function through its mention of Offers (Derewianka 2011, p. 113), and has related this to the Tenor of the two different situations.
