Posted on 09/04/2008 9:09:30 PM PDT by goldstategop
Why Palin’s Speech Worked A former vice-presidential speechwriter breaks it down. 4 September 2008
Last night, Sarah Palin, the previously obscure governor of Alaska, demonstrated before a national audience that she has an extraordinary ability to communicate with Americans. As someone who used to make her living writing political speeches, I can say that Palin certainly knows how to deliver one. She is talented at properly inflecting words to maximize dramatic punch, and she doesn’t stumble over timing. These skills, and not the writing, are what make it possible for an audience to really hear a speech.
Consider that the man who wrote Palin’s speech, Matthew Scully, also wrote speeches for Vice President Dan Quayle (as did I), Vice President Dick Cheney, and President George W. Bush. Scully has produced many excellent speeches over the years. Yet despite their various virtues, none of those men ever electrified a room the way Palin did last night. They had the words, but not the music—and absent compelling delivery, words are easily ignored in our media age. Dramatic delivery is a critical political skill that few Republican leaders have had since Ronald Reagan.
In a nutshell, Palin did the four things that she had to do. She offered repeated endorsements of John McCain and a comprehensive rationale for supporting him. She provided sharp criticism of the Democratic presidential candidate. As a newcomer, she demonstrated intelligence, ease with substantive matters, humor, and natural talent sufficient to explain why McCain chose her as his running mate. And she introduced herself and her family on her terms.
Introducing oneself should be a no-brainer for a candidate. But Palin had been through the wringer in the five days since her introduction as McCain’s surprise V.P. pick. Given the media attacks on her as a nobody, a distraction, an obviously bad mother running for office with a newborn at home, and a failed mother of a pregnant teenage daughter—as well as crass attacks on that daughter—taking back her story was an important, if delicate, task. (At the Democratic Convention, the Obamas had to reclaim their own story for the opposite reason: the press had treated them so gingerly that they seemed alien.)
Palin introduced her family in a straightforward, proud-mother way, with no hint of defensiveness. She referred to her daughters as “strong and good-hearted,” a rebuke to her pregnant daughter’s detractors. She touched hearts by noting the unique challenges that accompany having a special-needs baby—her newborn son has Down syndrome. Pronouncing herself an advocate in the White House for all parents in similar situations turned her maternal protectiveness into a political asset. Similarly, in presenting herself as the mother of an Iraq-bound soldier, she personalized her endorsement of McCain as commander in chief. Her counterpart in the Democratic Party, Joe Biden, has an Iraq-bound son, too, but he did no such thing for his running mate. She called herself a hockey mom, and her deft joke—“They say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull: lipstick!”—conveyed willingness to fight hard in a feminine context. Any female would-be leader must present herself as simultaneously tough and feminine; since those qualities often undercut one another, the line was brilliant.
Palin also turned the Obama campaign’s derision of her experience as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska into a plus. She rooted herself in a hometown (where is Barack Obama rooted?). Her drawling explanation that “a small town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that that you have actual responsibilities,” had the crowd laughing with her, and set up a direct contrast between the GOP’s vice-presidential candidate and the Democrats’ presidential candidate on the key matter of experience. (She wins, and McCain rises above both.) And her small-town riff—“We tend to prefer candidates who don’t talk one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco”—allowed her to swipe at Obama’s remark about rural dwellers who cling to religion and guns. It made the job of Scranton native Biden, assigned to win back the working class, harder.
Palin discussed her career as a reformer, her commitment to ethics, and, centrally, her efforts to restore government to “the people.” One of these—giving Alaskans back their money by selling the state jet (on eBay, no less), was funny, memorable, and spoke to one of the central planks of the McCain platform: fiscal responsibility. Palin also described putting ethics reform into law and reminded the audience that Senator Obama had no laws to his credit. Further, she attacked Obama’s “tax and grow the government” ethos, inviting working-class citizens to question how higher taxes would help them. Those working-class voters, not feminists, are the constituency she is targeting.
Most impressively, Palin, the foreign-policy novice, used her genuine expertise on energy issues, and her history of pushing back against oil companies, to deliver a brief but sophisticated discussion of how America’s energy vulnerability affects its dealings with various adversaries, connecting it to Vladimir Putin’s efforts to control the Georgia pipeline. That was sharp writing, enabling Palin to share foreign-policy substance without making it look forced. On energy policy, she offered concrete solutions: “Starting in January . . . we’re going to lay pipelines.”
Palin articulated her points so that average citizens could insert themselves into the pictures she painted. She concluded by making the case for John McCain’s character, experience, leadership, and readiness to be commander in chief in a dangerous world. Her performance helped validate McCain’s own political judgment in selecting her. And she spoke straight to the American people throughout. That is an astonishing amount for one speech to accomplish.
that last part is classic mcCain.
Works...
If you are a Tolkein Fan, the Dunedan hid in the North, in the wastes, they did their duty quitely, and yet when the Men of the West needed them, one emerged.
Fascianting stuff, really it will take a whole week to wring the greatness out of that speech, her stage craft, nuanced movments, smirk to sly grin, delivery, all were top notch and IMO, Reaganesque.
She could have said “There they go again” and it would have fit right into the speech.
Palin just has so much charm that comes through every word she says.
While some worthy orators are actually trained, and would be conscious of their technique, a "natural" is just that, one to whom it comes naturally. Naturals, like Reagan and Palin just "do it", as it's as much a part of them, as their right arms...
the infowarrior
And then we can get down to the REAL things he needs.
VERY well said. Gov. Palin is, quite evidently, a naturally fine speaker.
Works...
I watched Pawlenty, Grahanmesty, Ridge, and McCain tonight. NONE of them were as impressive as Palin. Palin saved this convention.A brilliant boss with confidence will hire people with sharper skills than him/her and then take credit for it.
OTOH, an idiot lacking confidence hires other idiots for fear of his employees showing him/her up.
IOW, McCain recognized the short comings of the campaign, then knew what to do to save it...and save it he did.
No Pawlenty, Romney, Huckabee or Lieberman could have done for McCain what Sarah Palin has done. AND, no Pawlenty, Romney or Huckabee as nominee would have done what McCain did...Period.
Expect something large and perhaps nasty from the O campaign. Obama has actually been sucked into comparing himself with the opposition’s VP nominee. His handlers will be desperate to change the subject soon.
Wasilla has a Wal-Mart, a Target and a Sears store
which is how some towns are measured in Alaska.
Amazing. Despite all the planning, the positioning, the buying of influence, the pedaling of influence, and the rock star blitz of the other side...we are seeing that, IMHO, the good Lord can prepare something off to the side that wholly undoes all of that wrangling.
You know, when this was first announced, and I read a bit about Sarah Palin and her pro-life beliefs and her actions as a mother, I thought that the hand of God surely was involved in this.
I just pray that God's angels keep her safe...
marking for morning reading
Thank you for posting this - it was a great read!
I had to laugh when I heard Harry Reed talk about the speech as sounding shrill. No, Harry, you got her speech mixed up with Shrillzilla Clinton’s. That woman has the voice of fingernails across a chalkboard.
Which brings me to another contrast. Look how Gov. Palin handled her speech, poised, funny, very pleasing voice. Think HRC could ever do a speech like that?(Hint, the answer is hell no!)
They were saying on Fox that this was the first time Cindy had ever delivered a speech. Considering that, I guess you can say she did OK.
Yes, but it was McCain’s foresight and instinct that recognized true talent.
*THIS* is why McCain must be the next POTUS.
Left out of this whole article is the fact that the teleprompter malfuncioned! Gov.Palin did about half of this thing WITHOUT the teleprompter!
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