Politician speaking

There is a lot to be said about the ability to speak. As I watched Barack Obama speak after the Iowa caucus, the environment was electric. He was a man possessed by his emotions. Words rolled off his tongue and he made believers out of people in that room and even the ones watching him on television. Today the mood was subdued. He lost a hard fought battle in New Hampshire and his voice was calmer and more measured. However, even with a change in tone the man did not skip a beat.

Hillary spoke from prepared notes. She spoke well but the fact that she looked into a piece of paper to lead her on took something away from what she said. She spoke pretty well but it just wasn’t the same. I really believe that she would be a completely different candidate if she would speak from the heart and not from the notes.

I did my first Toastmasters speech on Sunday and I have a whole new respect for people who can speak without any aid. As I prepared my speech the previous day I tried to squeeze in a number of things that I wanted to say. The speech was a little longer than I could afford and yet I kept it in there. However, I was particular that I speak without notes. When I got up there it was as though I was in a trance. I spoke about most of the things that I had noted down, but I missed a few as well. The common thread in the feedback was that I did not use notes. Most people seem to appreciate that. When I sit in church listening to the sunday sermon I always tend to listen to priests who speak without notes. They always seem to speak with a lot more passion about things that are more relevant to day to day life rather than the things that people expect to hear in a sermon.

What does that say about prepared speeches by politicians running for office?

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