September 3, 2008
This Is Not a Political Blog, But …
Posted by Kevin | Print This Article
In a long, long campaign season filled with lots of long, long speeches, in my opinion the two most effective were those delivered by Hillary Clinton last week at the DNC and by Sarah Palin tonight at the RNC. Why? They were both, at their heart, personal. They each used real world language to tell the speaker’s personal story in order to make larger (in both cases, rather barbed) points. People connect with people, not with ideas or themes. To sell the idea, you have to make that personal connection.
Category :
Asides
Yes, people do connect with people; that’s why President Bush got two terms. But I disagree that people don’t care about “ideas or themes.” Certainly, many don’t–and we’ve seen how dangerous that can be. Maybe I put too much faith in humankind, but I believe most of us do care about ideas. Yes, Sen. Clinton connected personally, but she also had ideas.
I’d add the speech by Joe Biden. Even the delegates listened intently to the personal stories (more than to the issues) about Biden.