The way, words and wisdom of the President’s historic address
feel as if we are part of the dialogue. Donald Trump is not an eloquent speaker. But he does know how to interact with an audience. He says things like ‘ believe me’ and he will say ‘thank you’ and he engages in a dialogue.”
Crystal encourages any would- be speaker to stick to time, make eye contact with their audience, or look slightly above them and find a feature at the back of the room and look from side to side.
The good news he adds, is that everyone is naturally eloquent. He added: “People will tell you they are not. But if you ask them what they watched on TV and they tell you about a programme, they will describe it perfectly. Everybody has this natural ability.
“So if you can do it for one or two people, why not for 20, or 50 or 1000? It’s about confidence and avoiding nerves. And people will listen even more if you follow the tricks.” “Dream” is a powerful word in American rhetoric, because of the way it was used by Martin Luther King in his famous “I have a dream” speech in 1963. People are so familiar with it. It is a speech that stays in your mind. Winston Churchill, Westminster, 1940 It was his first speech as Prime Minister and included the words: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” Any politician wants their speech to be remembered like that. Churchill Barack Obama’s speech in Dallas on Tuesday will be remembered as the “open heart speech”.
He had two different types of audience and he was trying to bring them together. The content is up to the speech writers. But it’s how you are going to put it across.
I think this speech was very different from the victory speech. That is full of “the rule of three” where he says things like, “I was with you yesterday, I’m with you today, I’ll be with you tomorrow”.
What struck me was there was very little of that. When you are being emotional, or giving the impression of reaching out to people from the heart, you appear more non-fluent – you put a pause in. If Expert David Crystal on Barack Obama’s speech on Tuesday at a memorial service for the five officers shot in Dallas it’s full of balance it suggests it is all programmed in advance.
He used a lot of colloquialisms like “goofing off” and “cops” early in the speech. It suggests a less crafted rhetoric.
At the end of the speech he used the word dreams. Perhaps an echo of the “I have a dream” speech.
His tone was more conversational this time.
Notice how things appear in pairs like ‘too many... too many”, “how inadequate… how inadequate” – pairs are the basis of this speech.