Looking at the DNC as theater or performance, it's clear that some public servants are better orators than others. Many of the speeches at the DNC have not been aired by by the big networks, but are worth a listen. Mark Warner's keynote was kind of a snooze, because he's not a great speaker. Everything Harry Reid said was true and urgent, but his delivery was so quiet, so monotonous, that it was hard to listen. But the Governor of Montana Brian Schwietzer, a progressive leader on environmental issues, delivered the kind of populist, call-and-response speech that got the delegates to cheer. It's what they call a stem-winder. He's got great diction, rhythm, clear sentences, expressive body language, and command of the timing to give the crowd an invitation to respond. He gives a great combination of one-liners followed by specifics about Obama's environmental and energy plan (he's an agronomist and an engineer who speaks fluent Arabic after living several years in the middle east, NOT an oilman).
"If you drilled in all of John McCain's backyards, even the ones he doesn't know he has....(woohoo!).... that single proposition is a dry well." "Barack Obama understands that the most important barrel of oil is the one that you don't use."
"The petrodictators will never own American wind and sunshine, and we should never again be beholden to their barrels of crude."
Listen to the crowd roar at the end of his speech!!!
Here he talks about a variety of energy alternatives.
Here's Dennis Kucinich, not mincing words (transcript here):
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Read up a little on Gov. Schweitzer; his progressive bona fides seem to be in order, but I'm concerned about his yen for coal, even as a transitional fuel to something renewable and carbon-neutral. That said, I did catch part of his speech on Tuesday, which brought to mind something I read somewhere that compared his oratorical style to an NCAA coach -- rah!
Does the Kucinich video include shots of his wife? Please say yes.
Nah, just the little guy with the big ears. But the music crew was probably thinking of her when they chose the song!
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