You're right about the stereo-typical observation.
One question that irks me about Bush is that, are the clangers that come out of his mouth an indication of his lack of intelligence or simply the fact that he's just a hopeless public speaker.
Generally speaking, I think the pollies we have in Australia are pretty good when it comes to stringing a word or two together in front of the camera and a physcial audience. Howard, Rudd, Beazeley, Carr are all pretty good with the gab.
A great example of this was John Howard at Steve Irwin's memorial service.
I'm not a great JWH fan but he managed to speak, with notes for 5 mins to a audience of 1000 odd IRL, and a TV audience of millions. He didn't miss a beat - it was quite good.
So Bush, dumb or just can't can't talk in public?
Humourous comment: "I like Bush. I like the fact that there exists in this world a man that's dumber than me!".
I would vote for the "Bush as hopeless public speaker" option.
Ronald Reagan was a gifted public speaker and he was also condemned by his opponents as stupid. Yet, if you were to read his letters and his self-written speeches, you can't help but come away feeling he was not stupid.
It's an amazing coincidence how people with whom one disagrees always seem to wear the mantle of stupidity while those with whom one agrees, regardless of their speaking abilities, are always smart.
2 comments:
You're right about the stereo-typical observation.
One question that irks me about Bush is that, are the clangers that come out of his mouth an indication of his lack of intelligence or simply the fact that he's just a hopeless public speaker.
Generally speaking, I think the pollies we have in Australia are pretty good when it comes to stringing a word or two together in front of the camera and a physcial audience. Howard, Rudd, Beazeley, Carr are all pretty good with the gab.
A great example of this was John Howard at Steve Irwin's memorial service.
I'm not a great JWH fan but he managed to speak, with notes for 5 mins to a audience of 1000 odd IRL, and a TV audience of millions. He didn't miss a beat - it was quite good.
So Bush, dumb or just can't can't talk in public?
Humourous comment: "I like Bush. I like the fact that there exists in this world a man that's dumber than me!".
Cheers.
I would vote for the "Bush as hopeless public speaker" option.
Ronald Reagan was a gifted public speaker and he was also condemned by his opponents as stupid. Yet, if you were to read his letters and his self-written speeches, you can't help but come away feeling he was not stupid.
It's an amazing coincidence how people with whom one disagrees always seem to wear the mantle of stupidity while those with whom one agrees, regardless of their speaking abilities, are always smart.
Post a Comment