Most of us don’t live in Iowa, so we have to depend on third party information about the candidates to the US Presidency. CNN, Fox News, or this latest from Politico.com:
The contrast between Rick Perry Michelle Bachmann “had less to do with what they said than how they said it — and what they did before and after speaking.
Perry arrived early…. The Texas governor let a media throng grow and dissolve before working his way across the room to sit at table after table, shake hand after hand, pose for photographs and listen politely to a windy Abraham Lincoln impersonator, paying respect to a state that expects candidates, no matter their fame, to be accessible.
But Bachmann campaigned like a celebrity. And the event highlighted the brittle, presidential-style cocoon that has become her campaign’s signature: a routine of late entries, unexplained absences, quick exits, sharp-elbowed handlers with matching lapel pins, and pre-selected questioners…
‘She kept us waiting, she was not here mixing — then she was talking about what a great evening it was. How do you know? You just got here,’ said Karen Vanderkrol, of Hudson, Iowa, who said she agreed with the substance of Bachmann’s speech, but that one line in particular rang false: ‘I am a real person.’”
Regardless of your political leanings, it is in interesting commentary about the difference in their styles. And, in my mind, what you DO is just as important as what you say. In fact, I get really annoyed when they are not in alignment. Great leaders do what they say, and say what they do. They are the real thing, both “on” and “off” the job or the platform.
I recently attended a national convention when one of the speakers had a “senior moment” – she forgot her lines. It was only a five minute speech, and so she had carefully crafted her speech, practiced methodically and came out onto the stage with energy and enthusiasm. She performed her speech, much like she practiced it in the car, in the mirror, or to her friends. Unfortunately, when you are speaking to a thousand people, it just isn’t the same.
