President Platitude, the aspirant
Humanize This!
By TIMOTHY EGAN, NYT
He was going to fill in the blanks, a nowhere man no more. He was going to show his human side, to offer us a glimpse of the guy who said he "lives for laughter." Not lovable, or even very likable, but at least a fleshed-out leader with a plan.
The empty chair that a befuddled Clint Eastwood spoke to had to compete with the famous empty suit of Mitt Romney. In the speech that was supposed to seal the deal with a divided public, the man who sheltered his money in foreign lands went on about his "belief in America"; it sounded like the chords of a flat song. The substance of his speech was the rhetorical equivalent of the elevator music the nominee loves. This was President Platitude, the aspirant.
Romney is not auditioning for orator in chief, so it doesn't really matter if the speech was more Pat Boone than Winston Churchill. It was absurd, after all, to think that a strangely unknowable man who has been campaigning for president for half a decade would somehow reveal himself in a fresh launch of focus-tested words.
In these ragged times, where progress moves along on three wheels and a flat tire, most Americans do not need to fall in love with a leader. Yet trying to raise the likability meter seemed to be the sole intent of the buildup to the Romney kicker.
(More here.)
By TIMOTHY EGAN, NYT
He was going to fill in the blanks, a nowhere man no more. He was going to show his human side, to offer us a glimpse of the guy who said he "lives for laughter." Not lovable, or even very likable, but at least a fleshed-out leader with a plan.
The empty chair that a befuddled Clint Eastwood spoke to had to compete with the famous empty suit of Mitt Romney. In the speech that was supposed to seal the deal with a divided public, the man who sheltered his money in foreign lands went on about his "belief in America"; it sounded like the chords of a flat song. The substance of his speech was the rhetorical equivalent of the elevator music the nominee loves. This was President Platitude, the aspirant.
Romney is not auditioning for orator in chief, so it doesn't really matter if the speech was more Pat Boone than Winston Churchill. It was absurd, after all, to think that a strangely unknowable man who has been campaigning for president for half a decade would somehow reveal himself in a fresh launch of focus-tested words.
In these ragged times, where progress moves along on three wheels and a flat tire, most Americans do not need to fall in love with a leader. Yet trying to raise the likability meter seemed to be the sole intent of the buildup to the Romney kicker.
(More here.)
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