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Edited on Thu Nov-20-03 10:55 AM by recidivist
Bush frequently does a good job on set piece speeches. He is clumsy on the extemporaneous stuff, but even that is intentional. Seriously.
A little history: when Bush got interested in running for governor, some of his advisors (quite naturally) urged him to get some speech training. This is not at all unusual for politicians reaching out for the big time, especially for those whose career background hasn't involved talking for a living. Lawyers (over)proliferate in politics for several reasons, one of which is the fact that their training and career experience emphasize verbal dexterity, which is an asset for a pol. Businessmen, on the other hand, are notoriously clumsy on the stump, not because they're dumb but because they've never felt the need to hone those skills. Bush is not alone on this.
Anyhow, Bush was urged way back when to get some professional training. He refused, on the theory that his simple, down-home style would play well in Texas. It obviously did. When he got interested in running for president, the same thing happened. National Republican types said, "Well, it might have worked in Texas, but it won't play nationally. Ya gotta get some speech training." Bush again refused.
The bottom line is, the Bush verbal style is perfectly intentional. The Bushies understand how he sounds, and how the style grates on some people. However, they have taken that risk. They quite deliberately want Bush to sound un-slick. They want, for lack of a better term, a common touch. They want him to pose as an anti-politician. They don't want him too polished. So far, you would have to say it's worked for him.
That said, Bush does a pretty good job on big, set-piece speeches where he's had time to edit and practice. He has a gifted speechwriting team that plays to his style. He's still painful to listen to in the unscripted moments, but he's given quite a few very good major addresses. He's an interesting contrast to Bill Clinton, who was wonderfully adept with words -- in fact, it was hard to get him to shut up -- but said very little that was rhetorically memorable.
As an aside: One of the most effective pieces of political rhetoric in many years was Bush's utter destruction, during his acceptance speech at the Republican Convention, of Al Gore's "risky scheme" line of attack. Bush turned "risky scheme" into a joke in just a few sentences, and Gore never dared to return to what had been a major rhetorical theme.
Lesson of the day: never underestimate the opposition. Bush knows what he's doing. Some people who should have known better used to make fun of Eisenhower for being inarticulate. Ike cleaned their clocks. Not everybody has to talk like a trial lawyer or a career pol.
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