Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

How do you turn tooting your own horn into a tune everybody’ll want to hum instead of an embarrassing ode to sensational you?  In a new commentary , Slate looks at Barack Obama’s latest campaign move and finds it lacking in a once-great American virtue – humility.  The piece raises a tough issue for people who help power-seekers prep for public consumption.
 
Honestly, none of Obama’s rhetorical strategies during the young campaign have connected with me, so I’m not a good judge of what he’s up to here.  But I was just up close at John Edwards’ speech to a small group and came away impressed.   Of course, the telegenic former trial lawyer is considered by some – rightly or wrongly – to be among the most self-infatuated politicians in the presidential hunt.  And as the Slate piece points out, he’s as fond as the other candidates of highlighting his greatest hits.  
 
But the Edwards I saw was winningly down-to-earth.  He playfully interjected when a warm-up speaker switched around his campaign slogan (“Tomorrow Starts Today” time warped into “today starts tomorrow”).  Assessing the state of the American Dream, he acknowledged his own personal success and nicely pivoted to a discussion about making sure everyone has the opportunity to do well – a move Bill Clinton also made after receiving a big fat advance for his memoir.  
 
Edwards was most effective talking about the state of the campaign.  Yes, he absolutely has to do well in Iowa.  And if he does, the speech went, he can turn the polls and become the top contender.  He relayed this and his supporting data quickly and matter-of-factly.  It sounded true. And it made him sound solid and in control.  That meant he didn’t have to come and out and say, “Hear ye, hear ye, I am solid and in control.”
 
Show don’t tell – it’s an old storytelling rule that’s also important on the stump.  Especially when thinking about how to put across qualities like confidence and vision.  If you say you’re a visionary, some might think you’re actually too focused on the mirror.
 
Another old rule says to avoid the word “I.”  Whenever possible, substitute “we.” The only candidate who may be exempt is Rudy Giuliani.  His defining moment – helping to resurrect a city and country after the fall of the towers – is so singular, the “I” is acceptable and probably helpful.  Hillary, on the other hand, needs “we” to combat a know-it-all image.
 
For my money, Hillary’s the best stumper out there right now.  Almost everything she says comes across with verve and certainty.  Fred Thompson is the worst (makes me want to award “Law & Order” creator Dick Wolfe a back-dated Emmy for making Fred seem at all substantive in the first place).  Most everybody else is somewhere in the middle, still mastering the difference between butt-kicker and blowhard.