House of Eratosthenes

I ran into a debate a little while back about the morality issues involved in seeing a good side to the Obama presidency, what with all the pain it is inflicting on perfectly decent people. I chose not to partake because the person who took the “holier than thou” route, and therefore disagreed with me, was one I knew to be wise since he agreed with me about many other things. And the conversation looked rather non-educational.

But there’s definitely a silver lining to it. People can always learn things. People like Ronald Reagan’s daughter, Patti Davis:

“Maybe we fell in love too fast,” my friend said. “You know, we might have zipped right past the road signs.”

Several of us were sitting around over the holiday weekend, enjoying a lovely bottle of wine at sunset … and discussing the condition of our country. Which led us to the president. Which led us to our mutually shared disappointment in him.

We are all liberals, we all supported Obama, and we all remember how emotionally uplifted and hopeful we felt when he was elected.

“But he was a brilliant orator,” another friend offered. “He went right for the heart, and he did it so well.”

Yes, but now …
:
I started thinking about the art of communication, and how dependent it is on a certain level of theatrics. If you want your audience to feel specific emotions, you have to understand how to stir up those feelings in them. It’s both dance and dialogue, taking place deep beneath the surface.

My father was once quoted as saying that having been an actor was good training for politics. It was an unfortunate comment to make publicly, and he was widely lambasted for it. But while he should have kept that observation to himself, there is actually a lot of truth in it. A good actor knows where emotions lie in the human psyche, and can carve out a path to them. It’s a skill that begins with the actor’s willingness to open up first and let us in. We relate and respond to people on the basis of emotion, not in the milieu of professorial lecturing, which might educate, but it doesn’t inspire.

Actors know that perception is everything, along with timing. When disaster strikes, we want to hear from our president immediately, not weeks later. We want to know he’s hurting along with us, not heading out to the golf course, which is sort of the modern-day version of the Roman emperor Nero fiddling while fires raged through the city. As history tells it, the Romans did not appreciate that.

Mastery over mob emotions is not a sign of an effective leader. Lots of people understand that now, and didn’t two years ago. That’s an improvement.

It certainly doesn’t correlate to an honest one. President Reagan, at least, had a reason to become experienced in this craft without out-and-out lying to people.

President Obama, on the other hand, refined this skill being a community organizer.

Patti Davis is telling us that she and all her friends were suckered, even volunteered for it. It will not occur to them to change their politics, just their politician.
- jamzw | 09/10/2010 @ 23:02
“But he was a brilliant orator,” another friend offered. “He went right for the heart, and he did it so well.”

This particular bit of sophistry has always baffled me. Orator? Where? When? Could someone give me an example? All I saw during the campaign season was a bunch of empty platitudes about “change.”

Frankly, I don’t see this masterful oration. Instead, I see a small, pathetic little man, in WAYYY over his head, unable to deliver even the most simple sentences without a teleprompter, blaming his predecessor for the problems HIS administration is causing or worsening…demonizing the opposition, and allowing his underlings to call people ugly names.

They blathered on about how stupid Bush was supposed to be because he wasn’t a wordsmith like Clinton, but at least Bush wasn’t a bleeping fake and buck-passer. And Bush didn’t go “erm” “uh” “uhm” every two sentences.

More to the point, a pox on all the millions of voters who bought into his garbage back in 2008. Especially the “independent” voters and all the others who pushed Obama over the top in swing states. I feel like grabbing every last one of them by the shirt collar, and screaming in their faces, “What the hell were you thinking? What is WRONG with you? I saw through his bullshit…why couldn’t you? You so busy watching American Idol and your fantasy football leagues, that you couldn’t pay a modicum of attention to what was happening to our country? Idiot!”

And you say this gal was the daughter of the greatest American president of modern times? That makes her spiel utterly inexcusable.
- cylarz | 09/12/2010 @ 23:33

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Patti Davis Gets ItFriday, September 10th, 2010

Patti Davis Gets It
Friday, September 10th, 2010