Your point is valid, but I think presidential communication involves more than just skill -- or lack thereof -- in "public speaking." A president must be able to communicate with the people. He must be able to persuade, inspire, even occasionally cajole, to galvanize public opinion for worthy causes.
Communication with the public today, of course, involves communication through the medium of television. All other media are secondary. Two masters of this form of communication in recent years were JFK and Reagan. Franklin Roosevelt, on the other hand, was a master of using the medium of radio. (All explained by Marshall McLuhan in "Understanding Media.") Thomas Jefferson was a master of the written word.
Different communications skills for different centuries.
GWB is an OK speaker ... when he prepares, as he did for the debates. However, I don't think he ever could do what Pat Buchanan did in the months prior to the presidential election ... stand up in front of a group of hostile students (Harvard, in Buchanan's case) and field question after difficult question. Those types of communication skills, however, are not required of a president.
However, GWB must be able to get up in front of the American people -- and leaders of foreign countries -- and communicate effectively. |
