Terrible sound of politicians talking
There was a time, certainly before our time, when politicians made their bones through the melodiousness of their voices and the way they presented their vocal stylings on the hustings, and on the radio.
We all missed the Lincoln-Douglas debates, but
I'm sure the pair sounded pretty good, or they wouldn't have made it to the big time.
Louisiana's Huey Long was famed for enthralling audiences with the power of his voice.
In a story on the United States Senate website about classic orators, Long is quoted as reminiscing in 1935: “I can't remember back to a time when my mouth wasn't open whenever there was a chance to make a speech.” His most famous talk, “Every Man a King,” broadcast nationwide on NBC radio, was a fairly lunatic number about wealth redistribution that nonetheless created a huge fan base. “Suiting his style to his radio audience, Long explained his agenda in simple, repetitive phrases,” the Senate says. His “style was, in Paul C. Gaske's words, `a combination of self-absurdness, intensity, and conviction' that made his `amalgam of populism, technocracy, the Bible, and Share Our Wealth, especially appealing.'” He had a way with words, in other words.
And then there were FDR's Fireside Chats, 31 calm radio addresses delivered in his upperclass drawl that The Great Communicator used to help get a nation through World War II.
To be blunt about it, there are no Great Communicators among the three leading candidates for president in 2024. In fact, I can barely stand to listen to a single spoken word President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump or upstart Robert F. Kennedy Jr. utters.
I was unkind and unknowing when I referred to Kennedy's voice as simply “hoarse” in this space last week. In fact, he has a neurological disorder called spasmodic dysphonia, which gives him that permanent rasp. Doesn't make it any easier to listen to. Not to mention the inane things he actually says.
I remember how it used to pain me to listen to remarks by George W. Bush, because he didn't come across as very bright when he spoke. Now I have almost a nostalgia for that voice. He was an ordinary guy.
As for our current president — I suppose the kindest thing you could say about Biden's manner of speaking is that he, too, sounds like an ordinary guy. A guy at 80. Smart enough, but he's understandably lost a step. Not arrogant, but relies on catch-phrases. He slurs his words, and is sometimes forgetful. Last week in off-the-cuff remarks after visiting the Mideast, looking understandably tired, he said, in a halting manner, “And, uh, so we got a commitment as you know from the, from, uh ... the Israelis . ... There may be nothing rolling through until — what's today? What's the check of days?” “Wednesday,” someone says. “Wednesday,” the president repeats.
And Trump? The most appalling orator in modern times. Cannot string a single cogent thought together. Has heard that repetition is good, and boy does he take it to heart. Refers to himself in the third person, constantly. Makes no effort to distinguish the crucial from the trivial. In the middle of condemning Hamas terror last week, he swats away a fly. “I didn't know they had flies in Iowa. I hate flies!,” he screams. “I'll get in trouble for saying that. Cruelty to animals. I said the other day, I was at a place, and it was a beautiful place, but they had like, flies, and I said, `Get flypaper!' and they said, `Sir, they're not allowed to sell that anymore because of cruelty to animals.' ... What the hell is going on in this country?”
Couldn't say, sir. Something like this: We elect people who lie, plus they simply sound terrible while they are doing it.