Grade Inflation

For years I've been complaining that Obama's speeches sound like they were written by high school sophomores. More like eighth graders, actually.

A Smart Politics study of the 70 orally delivered State of the Union Addresses since 1934 finds the text of Obama's 2012 speech to have tallied the third lowest score on the Flesch-Kincaid readability test, at an 8.4 grade level.
Obama also delivered the second lowest scoring address in 2011 (at an 8.1 grade level) and the sixth lowest in 2010 (at an 8.8 grade level)
The Flesch-Kincaid test is designed to assess the readability level of written text, with a formula that translates the score to a U.S. grade level.

My analysis isn't based on syllables an sentence complexity, it's based on inept metaphors, glittering generalities and the number of rainbows and unicorns invoked.