The Democratic oratory deficit
Tuesday August 26, 2008
Categories: Democrats
Could it possibly be the case that the only Democrats in the country who know how to give a speech any normal person would care to listen to are Barack and Michelle Obama? Good grief, could Mark Warner and Bob...
Filed Under: casting stones, Democrats
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About Crunchy Con
Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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I've been liking all of the oratory so far this night, except for Casey, who didn't seem to have the cadences of public speaking down or maybe he was just nervous. But Warner got me feeling good about the campaign and Patrick was on fire.
Ted Strickland and Deval Patrick talked like how populists should talk.
Anyone relying on a toddler to judge political speeches should throw in the towel right now; believe it or not, someone who can't read isn't ready to vote...or judge.
Congratulations, Anonymous at 11:28; you've proved one of Rod's other theories, the one about Democrats having a humor deficit.
Don't worry, if you think the dummycrats are boring, wait until the republibores get started. Aside from John McCain's jokes, they have even less to recommend them as speakers.
What I want to see is the ratings for the conventions. I wonder if anyone is actually listening to them or is the country just so fed up that no one gives a damn what any of them are saying about anything?
I'm a Democrat who just plain likes McCain. I wouldn't vote for him in a million years, but I find his manner and his humor and even his temper appealing. The guy's human. I sat a table next to his in a steakhouse in Phoenix once but didn't go over and bother him. He was articulating his conversation with the help of a basket of breadsticks. He could invite me to any one of his houses on a thousand hills and I'd be honored to take up the invitation.
I've met both Obama and Hillary and found them kind of stiff (and 20 years ago Hillary was just plain glacial). I thought the speeches tonight were pretty dry until we go to Schweitzer, who was a good warmup for Hillary, who gave exactly the speech she needed to. From the perspective of someone who does believe Obama is the better choice for America, Hillary's was a great speech.
But I'm not casting my vote on the basis of whose barbecue might be more fun to go to. Or who will wave a breadstick to cajole a dinner partner. Or who gives the best speech. Nor am I taking off points for speaking too well, Obama, uh, punctuating his unrehearsed speech, uh, with too many, uh, pauses to rate as a great speaker by me. This year I think it's going to be a lot more about substance.
Deo gracia.
Let's face it, the African-American preaching tradition is the only really live strand of oratory remaining in the US, and all decent political oratory owes a debt to it (including Al Gore in his more lively moments, BTW.)
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