Hillary's poor public speaking ability...

[garybeck]

Maybe this is YAHBT (Yet Another Hillary Bashing Thread) but I have to say something about this.

I've been noticing more and more lately that Hillary is almost always reading, word for word, when she's speaking at a podium. It's not like she has some notes jotted down, to make sure she covers the points she wants to make. If you watch closely, she's reading every word. She looks down every few seconds.

To me, as an observer, it makes the content of he speech seem less "real." Who wrote that? Is she even paying attention to what she's saying, or is her mind elsewhere? Does she even know what she's saying?

I noticed it in her "Rocky" theme speech the other day. She had to look down every few seconds to get it out, and even then she couldn't read it right and she screwed up. I have to say it reminded me of *.

Combine this with what I call her "plastic smile" (doesn't seem genuine) and her whole presence is really starting to bother me more and more. It just doesn't seem genuine.

Now I haven't watched all or even most of the the speeches. But I've seen enough of both to notice that I don't think I've ever seen Obama look down like he's reading. It really seems like he has the general thoughts in his head it just comes out. Maybe he is just able to afford a better teleprompter? Or ? But overall I have to say that I think Obama just comes off as more genuine, less "fake", and the fact that Hillary has to read her speeches, I think that really says something.

to put it in a bottle... I'd say that it APPEARS that Hillary is reading from a paper and Obama is speaking from the heart. I have no idea if that's what is really happening but it sure looks like that.

[anonymous171]

1. It's because Penn coordinates her public image.

Apparently "Hillary" doesn't poll well, so they go with "Rocky" instead.

[garybeck]

2. maybe they should try Bush's earpiece instead...

the constant looking down to get the next word is really bothersome to me.

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. Watch her on Cramer

she almost answered the question almost before it was asked.
It was so scripted on both sides.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7doDDfQmZA

[democrattotheend]

4. I don't think she's a bad speaker

She's not such a bad public speaker. She just has the misfortune of running against Barack Obama, who makes just about everyone look subpar as a public speaker. I've noticed that she goes first on primary nights whether she wins or loses...smart, IMO. Would you want to follow Barack Obama?

[garybeck]

6. forgetting Obama, I'd just like to feel like she's speaking from her own mind,

not reading a piece of paper.

anyone can do that.

[H2O Man]

11. There are times

when she comes across as authentic, and times when she is unauthentic. It is no secret that she has been using the services of a "voice coach." There are some things that stand in in her performances. Remember last fall, when she had the rather loud "laugh"? It has, thankfully, been retired.

In the last month, she has spoken in the lower, quiter tone, with slower delivery. It is supposed to change the way that the listener perceives her. Different people have different opinions on if it is working.

[lutefisk]

17. "not reading a piece of paper...anyone can do that"...Bush can't do it

Well, he can a little bit, sometimes. But he is always completely phony and condescending.

That's setting the bar pretty low, though.

[roguevalley]

56. herbster, I was brushing my screen for the bug for a moment before

i realized what it was. Hilarious!

[quantass]

69. .

[Cant trust em]

7. She is an adequate public speaker

Better than Bush, but not as awesome as Obama.

[democrattotheend]

13. Come on, NOBODY's as awesome as Obama

Well, very few people anyway. He's certainly the most charismatic politician I've heard in my lifetime (I'm 24).

[Cant trust em]

26. He takes a few minutes to warm up, but when he does the rafters shake.

Whenever I listen to him speak I can feel the energy flowing through me and I always feel better afterwards.

This kool-aid tastes good!

[roguevalley]

57. the kennedys were wonderful. MLK was poetry. You missed a lot

being young, sweetie. Enjoy Obama. he is wonderful. (Check out Barbara Jordan for great rhetoric.)

[H2O Man]

60. Malcolm X

was also an intense public speaker.

[roguevalley]

66. he was. his transformation was amazing. too bad he didn't live. I

would have loved to see the good he could have done if he had.

[BlueIdaho]

12. Oh Honey...

No one will ever be studying her speeches in a college classroom. She really is that bad of a public speaker.

[Cha]

52. Exactly...I can't even stand to listen to her..the

last time I heard her speak was the clip from Waco when she was lying about her Bosnian Sniper Daring-Do and all I think of when I see her words are how much of this is made up to pander up the voters?

[Cant trust em]

5. She's better in debates

Debates are about policy, speeches are about connecting with people. Then she can rely her strong suit (intellect) and avoid her weak suit (emotion).

[democrattotheend]

14. She is a good debater

She's good at coming up with answers quickly and sounding smooth. I read an analysis somewhere that she's more of a quick thinker, while he's more of a deep thinker...that probably explains why she does better at debates. She's also better at speaking in soundbytes...I respect Barack for not doing that as much, but he may have to learn how to do that in order to go all the way in the fall.

[Cant trust em]

22. Obama speaks like I do. Takes time to make sure every word is right.

When I'm explaining something I often pause for a second here and there to make sure that what I'm saying is what I want to say.

[catgirl]

19. She's certainly WEARING a weak suit in this photo!

Yikes. It looks like some polyester suit you can find in a Salvation Army! And
the orange color is atrocious! She needs more than a voice coach- she needs
someone to dress her.

[Cant trust em]

23. Yeah man. She looks like a carrot.

This one is not the best. I did like her canary yellow a while ago.

[goclark]

8. I've noticed that too

As an "experienced" public speaker she should be better than the Chimp.

Hope she has a note pad at 3 am and hope she doesn't make any decisions without her dtsff helping her make those decisions.

Can you just see her calling James Carville at 3:15 am and asking Mary the Republican to hand him the phone.

Bet she will take good notes ~ good old Mary, straight mouthpiece to the Rethugs.

[islandmkl]

9. i especially like her 'head-bob & smirk' she does for every 'applause' moment...

in her speeches...that 'knowing' look around the stage before continuing....

kind of like jr.'s monkey-smirk, only more arrogant than ignorant....

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

10. She seems to begin every other sentence with "You know..."

[la la]

15. kind of like

Obama's * uh, uh, uh uhs *................

just sayin'

[BlueIdaho]

16. Yup they're called "vocalized pauses" nt

[redqueen]

24. Oooh those "uhs" bug the hell outta me!

x(

[catgirl]

31. They would bug you

you're very judgmental of others. You must have been a terrible student... so
distracted by the intelligence of others. You probably don't sleep well either.

[redqueen]

32. Hahahahahaha...

You're hilarious!

[sniffa]

47. Wow.

How lonely are you? :shrug:

[WinkyDink]

64. THIS is the tic I grit my teeth about!

[quantass]

18. Was thinking same

[Ino]

20. She reminds me of Chimp strongly

In her economic speech... reading from notes like Bush (as you said), plus the same head-tilt at the start of sentences, the same inflections. It was creepy, like she'd been watching Bush's speeches for pointers!

[sniffa]

21. Yeah, and the minimum of 3 index cards in her hand is distracting

not to mention her very, stiff karate chop to hammer the point home.

John McCain does the a similar chop, but his fingers are spread apart, and he does more of thrust forward, than a chopping motion.

[redqueen]

25. Hahahaha... you are so attentive!

I can't force myself to pay that much attention. Bleh.

[sniffa]

27. Oh, you have no idea. Here's my take on Obama.

Obama does the horizontal finger point, which actually isn't distracting - it actually accomplishes the "hammering the point home" goal.

However, he does something constantly (though I haven't noticed as much in recent weeks) that I used to pick up on months ago, and that I zoned in on when I was at the Boston rally on Super Tuesday Eve from about 10 feet away: he scratches right behind and below one of his ears (the side of the hand not holding the mic), usually when he's trying to jog his memory to get to the next point of his speech. Digging at your skull won't get your brain to find the info you're seeking. I know it's a stress habit, but it is distracting.

Did you ever see my threads about David Shuster's mouth? Whenever he's on the tv, I can't help but stare intently at his mouth.

I haven't started a thread yet on Tweety's mouth, teeth, and smile, but my Shuster threads don't go over too well.

[Erin Elizabeth]

28. How about Donald Trump's mouth?

I swear to God I can't even look at the man, I find him so hideously unattractive. And his mouth is the worst part. I can't even say what it looks like to me. Too vulgar.

[sniffa]

29. Actually, not as much as you'd think

He does do that annoying, Dan Abrams, bottle-mouth thing, but I'm usually focused entirely on his comb forward spiral.

[redqueen]

38. "bottle-mouth thing"?

:rofl:

You guys are killing me...

[Erin Elizabeth]

41. He was nicer than me.

I think his mouth looks like a constipated asshole, but maybe that's just me.

[redqueen]

43. .

:o

*guilty giggle*

[sniffa]

44. No way it looks like a dehydrated star fish

There's way too much space. It's bigger than a whistle, but smaller than bj.

[Erin Elizabeth]

46. Oh my, I could say something so gross.

But I won't.

:rofl:

[catgirl]

33. Bill Clinton does the extremely long crooked finger wag

It matches the profile of his nose.

[sniffa]

42. I was just discussing w/ Bi-Baby, Bill Clinton's long lost,

signature, semi-:thumbsup: chop (which he occasionally mixed it up with the semi-:thumbsup: thrust). That was charming. The finger wag, not so much.

[redqueen]

34. ....

:rofl:

That is hilarious! I'm finding so many things hilarious this afternoon. :P

I will be looking for those things now, you know. Also, does McCain's not moving his upper lip when he talks bug you as much as it bugs me?

[Erin Elizabeth]

37. The Bushes never have upper lips.

Daddy doesn't have an upper lip and son doesn't have an upper lip. That's always bugged the shit out of me.

[redqueen]

40. I almost married a guy...

with hardly any lippy area at all... and my ex husband has hardly any upper lip either.

I guess it doesn't bother me so much. :P

[PoliticalAmazon]

30. I've heard her speak when WJC was first in office. She was a solid speaker...

She was brilliant, and really connected with the audience.

But that's before she decided to run everything she said by focus groups first, and her speaking ability has been gutted.

She didn't used to be like this.

[TomBall Democrat]

35. I haven't noticed the reader thing - but she's definitely

STIFF AS A BOARD.

It makes me uncomfortable to watch her. That smile seems frozen in place. And the laugh makes my teeth hurt.

Up tight doesn't begin to describe it. Like she'd break if touched.

It's painful to watch.

[Lerkfish]

53. if you'll recall, Gore was called "stiff" while under the whips of the DLC

as soon as he was out, he loosened up considerably.

[TomBall Democrat]

55. He still seems stiff to me.

kinda like the preppy school boy he once was.

[jillan]

36. I would rather listen to her than listen to Obama preach.

And I have watched Obama read many, many times.

[Arugula Latte]

39. I find her very irritating to listen to. Very grating.

I just want to flip the channel. She seems phony. She also seems to be lecturing/scolding the audience quite a bit. I just can't stand listening to her speak.

[EFerrari]

45. I still find it hard to believe she has coaches.

The way she produces her voice even sounds irritatin, like she has to force it out of 'way back in her lower register. Whatever. Maybe I'm just too critical of her.

[Raine]

48. Yeah me too

apparently though she has a coach but she needs a better one.

[Lucky 13]

49. When you have such a propensity for compulsive lying, it's best to stick to the script.

[loyalsister]

50. I have seen that too

I have seen times where she seems genuine. Earlier in the campaign I was really liking her interactions with voters in the town hall meetings.
I agree that she just doesn't seem comfortable. There are any number of reasons why that may be, all totally legitimate. She may not be comfortable with the material, the venue, etc. She may be aware of being in a venue that does not highlight her strengths or, she just may be tired.
I think Obama does read from a teleprompter. But I think he has adopted his material and internalized it in such a way that he is comfortable with it. Each of his speeches seems to refer back to the theme into the theme that people relate to. If he has speech writers, they are doing a good job of incorporating that theme. That theme from the speech he gave at the convention. Even if a speech writer writes a particular speech, he's comfortable with it and in his skin because he is still giving his own speech. He is at a great advantage with the narrative.
I think the competition of this campaign has placed Hillary in an extremely difficult position.
Obama has the personification of the American dream. McCain has the ultimate adversity that a soldier can endure.
And Hillary stands up to give a speech and has to compete with that. It must be a lot of pressure. I do not envy her.

[Cha]

51. Thanks for watching(somewhat) so

I don't have to. hilary not speak from the heart? Aren't they mark penn's Orwellian Strategy words? Trying to woo the delegates' words but coming off like nails across a blackboard?

[arikara]

54. She scares me most when she's in handshake mode...

grimacing and pointing at people and especially when she bugs out her eyes so you can see the whites all the way around. I have a deep distrust of people who show the whites of their eyes all the time. I wonder why her people haven't worked on that.

[SoonerPride]

58. I see what you mean

[Drunken Irishman]

59. I think her tone is a bigger problem.

She doesn't know how to control it, so she's shouting one second, talking very low the next and mumbling after that. It's very hard on the ears to have her go from one emotion to another.

[TexasObserver]

61. She's a terrible speaker and reads to avoid saying "you know" and "uh" constantly.

And, when she's making things up, she wants to make sure to use the exact language she needs to spin the tall tale - at least until she has those lines down pat, like the sniper LIE.

[loveangelc]

62. you fall asleep watching her speak. I remember them commenting on how

hillary is not a great speaker after her speech at the 2004 convention,lol.

[eridani]

63. When she is more relaxed, she's much better

I think that, like Al Gore, she's been "handled" too damned much.

[crispini]

68. I agree. Too much coaching

will make anyone start to appear unsure of themselves, especially if they're not an actor in the first place.

For politicians and ordinary folk, what you have to do is knock off the rough edges and speak from the heart. Unfortunately Hillary has been molded six ways from Sunday. :(

[FrenchieCat]

65. I don't even listen to her anymore. Sad, but true.

She gets on my nerves!

[quantass]

67. k&r