So, how did John McCain do in his acceptance speech? I’d heard that he is not a particularly good public speaker. After watching him last night, I’d have to say that overstates his skills. As a college professor who taught public speaking for over twenty years, I give him a C minus, this allowing for the fact that he didn’t even write it himself. Only Obama writes his own speeches in this election.
For the most part, I enjoy teaching speech, but it can be painful when a particularly bad speaker takes the floor. Unlike reading a student essay, I can’t hold my head with both hands and let out audible groans. But minutes turn to, uh, longer minutes, and last night McCain spoke for forty-five painful minutes. I held my head and moaned. I confess I flipped over to The Simpsons a few times.
The crowd cheered at all the appropriate moments, which was pretty much after every line, but the cheers seemed mostly desultory. When the cameras panned the audience for Obama, many of the delegates were openly weeping. During McCain’s speech, many were yawning. I am not making this up.
McCain is said to be very good in a town hall format, and good public speaking probably isn’t a leading factor in election success. In a close election, though, nobody can afford to be bad at anything.
And please: enough with the prisoner of war thing. It’s a compelling narrative, as they say, but it shouldn’t be the focal point of every speech by and about John McCain. Nor did it help when he talked about hearing that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. The only Pearl younger voters relate to might be Jam.
But mostly lackluster delivery trumped content.
Yawn.
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