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Now, if this were the campaign strategy, the last two weeks would have been an absolute gift from the electoral gods. Clinton pointed to her face-off with the Republican-led Benghazi committee as a sign of her unflappability. But he said that he would be more pointed and memorable in linking her to the failings and deaths in Libya, and that the debate would have a vastly larger television audience than the hearing. He acknowledged that Republicans tried to discredit her judgment in the marathon Benghazi hearing in the fall, to little avail. Specifically on Benghazi, he laid out how he’d debate her in the fall: Clinton as fundamentally corrupt, invoking everything from her cattle futures trades in the late 1970s to the federal investigation into her email practices as secretary of state. Christopher Stevens there.Īnd he intends to portray Mrs. Trump will try to hold her accountable for security lapses at the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and for the death of Ambassador J. To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by e-mail or mail.Mr. Llewellyn King ( is executive producer and host of “White House Chronicle” on PBS. You do not get that on the Sunday-morning talk shows: they lack the spontaneity of a forest of hands with many correspondents vying to ask a question. That is the test of the unscripted response: the American equivalent of Britain’s revered “Question Time.” It is a two-way affair, ideas coming and going. At a press conference, we learn how fast the candidate is on his or her feet, what the blindsides are, and the candidate learns firsthand, perhaps for the first time, what people are asking. She needs to peek out of the shell of committee-written jargon so the voters can get the measure of her. If he should win, he will not, one hopes, wing it when war and peace are in the balance.Ĭlinton needs fewer props, like the teleprompter. Trump needs to work on his reading-aloud skills, to get comfortable with the teleprompter. Much as we love to hear speakers who can enthrall without notes, in high-stakes politics, delivery and content need to be written down, so that, if for no other reason, they are accurately reported in the high-speed news cycle. wrote out his great speeches and seemed to have at least half-memorized them, so that when he said, “I have a dream,” it came not from his notes but his heart. I was watching Secretary of State Colin Powell sitting a few feet from me, and he visibly relaxed as Bush found his stride. But inside, Bush carried the day by reading a good speech superbly. ![]() The German chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, showed off his ability to think on his feet. I watched Bush stumble through an impromptu session outside the German Parliament, the Bundestag, in May 2002. ![]() Also his speeches were well-written and not bolted together. Bush was a disaster when trying to speak off the cuff, failing and falling back on platitudes and cliches, but reading effortlessly. During World War II, he kept his dental technician handy so that a prosthetic he wore could be adjusted to maintain that distinctive lisp. From that time on, Churchill wrote out his speeches, memorized them and delivered them as though extemporaneously. He had planned to speak extemporaneously and he froze for three minutes. When Winston Churchill - the man who was to become the greatest orator of the 20th century - gave his first speech in the House of Commons as a 29-year-old, he blew it. I myself am such a stumblebum that I do without a teleprompter, which has its own liabilities. I marvel at the ability of my friend and colleague Tim Farley, host of “The Morning Briefing” on SiriusXM Radio, to read anything faultlessly, even if he has never seen it before.īy contrast the late Tim Russert, a master questioner, often stumbled when reading. I believe the ability to sightread may be something we are born with. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menuīut she has skill at the teleprompter, seldom looking at the speech in front of her, but looking up to the judiciously placed screens that carry the words that she is reading, looking as though she is saying them, not often going off script.
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