Where Have All The Great Orators Gone?
Well, I’ve been busy lately but I should have some time to get some posts out there. Let’s start out with this complaint. We haven’t had a good speaker in the Whitehouse since Bill Clinton left office and, unlike the masses, I didn’t find him that compelling. But, he had an easy style, made me feel comfortable and did a good job of articulating his plans or policies, even when he was lying.
George Bush sounds like a high school public speaking student, which is strange because he’s really a good speaker in small, informal situations. I liked him a lot more in press conferences than in his formal speeches.
John McCain can say less with far more words than anyone I know of. He is interminably boring. When you add his peevish, smart-aleky inflections we have the recipe for a demogogic train wreck. Please, no…
Then, we have Barak Obama, the star of the 2004 Democrat Convention. Well, he certainly can give a good stump speech or address. But, catch him without a manuscript or teleprompter and Barak is absolutely dreadful… worse that any of the aforementioned. If, um, he’s elected, ummmm… uh, I , uh, think I will, ummm, uh… well, uh, I’ll just have to…. have to, well, I think I will, um, just have to, avoid… um, avoid any of his, okay, well I’ll have to, um, not watch his press, uh, those press conferences he…. um, he will be giving from the, uh, well, from the rose garden.
June 25th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Clinton was a tremendous speaker. You couldn’t help liking him when he spoke, even when you completely disagreed with what he was saying. Reagan was the same way. Funny thing with Reagan was a lot of folks believed in the complete opposite of what they believed, but they couldn’t help liking him.
I’ve seen Nader speak live, and I thought he was quite good, but I think he appeals more to “nerdy” types and several of the other people there who saw him were bored.
Bush isn’t that good of a speaker. He tends to get nervous when speaking to larger groups. He probably is more comfortable in one-on-one situations.
H. Clinton does come off as cold. McCain loses his cool way too much. A friend of mine was joking, but he asked me if I’d like to see McCain with his finger on the button and I immediately replied “no.”
Obama cannot improvise at all. I hate hearing him answer questions.
I also saw Badnarek (2004’s Libertarian candidate) speak and like Nader, he appeals to more “nerdy” types, intellectuals. I think he’d put the average person to speak.
Oprah, whether you like her or not, can speak. I could see her being a good orator, but thankfully she’s not a politician.
June 27th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Oprah is the kingmaker