The normal barrage of punditry that comes after significant speeches of this nature was ditched last night so that coverage of the plane crash into the Hudson River and Attorney General-nominee Eric Holder's confirmation hearing could be covered. How interesting is it that a plane crash would lead to news coverage of Bush's farewell being cut off?
Scott McClellan appropriately said on Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann minutes after the speech, there are two problems with his final speech: one, Bush lost the public trust long, long ago and so the public is no longer buying what he’s selling and two, Bush lost the trust because of the way he went about selling policies to the American people.
Having taken a college course on public speaking, I can confidently say that I know the many elements of a persuasive speech and I know how to give a persuasive speech quite well. And, Bush quite frankly hasn’t a clue how to deliver a persuasive speech.
The intention of this farewell address was to persuade the American people that he had served this nation well as president. If we agree this is the intention, then perhaps we can agree that he failed.
Every word of his address was uttered with the utmost disregard for the final Gallop poll which puts his approval rating at 34%.
Let’s say we assume that 100% of Americans tuned in to this speech (or will tune in later by watching it on the Internet). Only about a third of those people will hear what Bush had to say and think, “Yes, he’s right. He did do a good job.”
Bush, as Scott McClellan stated on Countdown, missed an opportunity. But, I and other Americans are probably not surprised. Bush has done everything he can to make it seem like he has made very few mistakes.
It’s possibly true that he made no mistakes. For those who controlled his political future like those behind his election and re-election, he served them well. But for the American people, he spent his two terms denying the prevailing wisdom of the nation.
Had Bush learned anything about how to deliver a persuasive speech, he might have learned that you will either face a receptive, neutral, or an unreceptive audience. Tonight, Americans would probably agree he faced an unreceptive audience.
Those who go before an unreceptive audience, if wanting to succeed in their speech, must not immediately announce that they plan to change the audience’s mind. They must begin by noting areas of agreement before discussing areas of disagreement. They must not expect a major shift in attitude. They must acknowledge the opposing points of view that members of the audience might hold. And, they must establish credibility.
It was clear that Bush’s farewell address was another attempt to save his legacy. It was given with little regard for the current state of the American people.
His body language probably gave many Americans the impression that he was reveling with pride and glory and that he thought Americans should revel right along with him.
When he said “thank you for your trust”, it was clear that Bush had spent his two terms giving little credence to the public opinion of America.
His decision to cite September 11th one more time before leaving office ignored the fact that Americans no longer think September 11th is a good enough reason for ongoing wars in the Middle East.
They no longer think September 11th justifies now infamous Bush policies and they stopped thinking September 11th justified American actions when they refused to support Rudy Giuliani in the 2008 election and refused to support McCain over Obama.
His belief that following his conscience and having good intentions when making decisions outweighed the outcomes of his decisions proved he never accepted why people opposed him.
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