Has Obama lost his oratorical touch?

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to cadets at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, December 1, 2009.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama's gift of oratory has been credited with propelling him to the U.S. presidency and even helping him to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

But after what was widely regarded as a less-than-soaring speech on Tuesday to pitch his new Afghanistan war strategy, many people are asking: Where was Obama's oratorical magic?

The primetime address had been billed as the most momentous of his young presidency, a time to summon all his powers of persuasion to shore up American resolve in an unpopular war while sending multiple messages to friends and foes.

What Obama offered was a detailed, point-by-point case for his 30,000-troop buildup in Afghanistan but delivered mostly in such a restrained, methodical manner that it may not sway the hearts and minds of many skeptical Americans.

Political analysts cast Obama's speech as a sign of the limits of his rhetorical skills in pushing a daunting agenda.

But the White House insisted Obama's sober language and demeanor were fitting for the weight of the matter at hand -- sending more U.S. forces into harm's way.

"The president was clear and concise. His tone was very serious. But he wasn't inspiring, and that's what he needed to shake up public opinion," said Stephen Wayne, a political scientist at Georgetown University in Washington.

STARK CONTRAST

It was a stark contrast to the telegenic politician who thrilled crowds with soaring paeans to hope and change on the campaign trail and rode that momentum into the White House.

Though Republican critics have sought to depict him as more style than substance, aides have seen him as the Democratic heir to Ronald Reagan, the original "Great Communicator."

Even as Obama's job approval ratings have eroded, the White House has rarely missed a chance to put him in front of the cameras to calm the public over their economic troubles or advance policy priorities like healthcare reform.

Some commentators have even suggested Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize more for making speeches -- like his outreach to the Muslim world -- than for any concrete achievement.

However, the frequency of Obama's public speaking has raised questions whether he has become overexposed.

Some analysts believe that may have diluted the impact of Tuesday's speech to the American people on his Afghanistan policy from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

"We had a president oratorically impaired in George W. Bush. People were craving a speaker like Obama," said Thomas Schwartz, a political history professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. "But after a while, you reach a saturation point."

But Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser and senior speechwriter, said the president was "absolutely not" spending too much time in the public eye. "There's an extraordinary amount of challenges facing this country and the president has to go out and talk about it," he said.

OBAMA'S CHALLENGE

Obama's challenge at West Point was to speak to multiple audiences, from the American public to the Afghan and Pakistani governments to NATO allies and al Qaeda.

In trying to calibrate those messages, he sometimes sounded more like the constitutional law professor he used to be than one of the most skilled political orators of his generation.

"Barack Obama is no Churchill" was the headline of a blog in the online edition of Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper.

But Rhodes defended Obama, saying, "The tone of the speech was necessarily serious and sober and intended to provide in very clear detail the way forward in Afghanistan."

There was no promise of victory in the 8-year-old war. Instead, Obama started off telling Americans he wanted to speak to them about "the strategy that my administration will pursue to bring this war to a successful conclusion."

Obama's tone was somber as he swept his gaze back and forth between twin TelePrompters. His stone-faced audience of Army cadets had been told by their superiors to maintain decorum.

Obama was often on the defensive, pushing back against opposition Republicans who had accused him of dithering on his decision, against anti-war Democrats who oppose any further troop deployments and against fiscal conservatives unhappy with the additional war costs during hard economic times.

He avoided framing the fight in Afghanistan as a battle of good versus evil, for which Bush was sometimes criticized.

But like Bush, Obama invoked the attacks of September 11, 2001 in his bid to rally American public support.

Unlike some of his presidential speeches, this one appeared light on rhetorical flourishes and inspirational words.

Rhodes pointed out, however, while the speech was heavy on detail, Obama concluded on an uplifting note. "We will go forward with the confidence that right makes might," he said.

There is little reason to think Obama has lost the oratorical powers he has displayed at critical junctures, like his speech on race during the presidential campaign. Just weeks ago, Obama was lauded for the eulogy he delivered for 13 people gunned down by a military psychiatrist at Ft. Hood, Texas.

"There is no doubt Obama is an inspirational speaker," Wayne said. "But governing is different from campaigning ... and he's finding it can be hard to be motivational when you're promoting certain policies."

(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, editing by Patricia Wilson and Cynthia Osterman)