sweeping national themes

[flowersa]

What is "sweeping" here? it's to general for me :)

"What Obama wanted to try out was an honest-togoodness stump speech full of sweeping national themes"

[bhaisahab]

What is "sweeping" here? it's to general for me :)

"What Obama wanted to try out was an honest-togoodness stump speech full of sweeping national themes"

It means wide-ranging, general, non-specific.

[Gillnetter]

What is "sweeping" here? it's to general for me :)

"What Obama wanted to try out was an honest-togoodness stump speech full of sweeping national themes"

You're on the right track. "sweeping", in this case, means general. Obama wanted to give a speech that discussed many of the concerns of the people (the nation). This would not be a speech, for example, directed at unemployment only, but a speech that spoke of the economy, national defense, unemployment, housing concerns, and on and on.

[Shenfeng]

A sweeping speech is a speech that carries people along, electrifies them, sweeps them away. So in very much the same sense I think sweeping national themes do just that in a speech. Patriotism, for instance, would be such a theme.

[flowersa]

Hi guys thanks a lot ... since that I'm looking for the most proper meaning, from what you wrote I have two options one that is "general" speech and the second one "A sweeping speech is a speech that carries people along" as Shenfeng wrote, what do you think I should use here?

[flowersa]

I also got this doubt where I saw his word "What Obama wanted to try out was an honest-togoodness stump speech"

so will be wait to read what you guys think :)

[Barb_D]

I also got this doubt where I saw his word "What Obama wanted to try out was an honest-togoodness stump speech"

so will be wait to read what you guys think :)

The type of speech candidates for office give (a stump speech). A speech that was truly that and could not be mistaken for another purpose.

[Shenfeng]

I guess what's meant here is that politicians usually deliver their stump speeches in more or less the same fashion, namely pretty much promising the potential voters the moon.
Obama wanted to try something new by giving a speech that is not riddled with lies and promises he wouldn't be able to keep.