WurfWhile

Here are some quick reactions to John Kerry’s speech (as seen from the comfort of my own home). The first quarter was weak. The bulk of the rest of the speech came across strong. While I haven’t seen Kerry speak much, this was by far the best he’s done.

The overall convention speech strategy was smart, if unevenly executed. Much of it involved holding others back (the infamous editing of everyone’s speeches) so that the message Kerry delivered sounded fresh and more powerful.

Here’s what worked:

- The theme that ” America can do better.”

- Don’t let anybody but Kerry say Bush’s name if possible, and then have him do it once and ask Bush to be positive, speak to the big ideas, be respectful in the race and never use the Constitution for “political purposes” (between the lines: hold elections on time, etc.). That this was a short piece made it even better.

- Address criticisms that have been out in the press. To the charge that “hope” is not enough and a weak echo of the “help” Bush promised four years ago (from the weaker Edwards speech) offer “help” in an echo of Bush’s campaign in 2000 that directly challenges the reality of Bush’s presidency. To the charge that no one knows what Kerry’s about and that he doesn’t offer a real difference, offer specific policies (Healthcare, Iraq and Defense, Education, Taxes & Economy, Energy, etc.) that show a clear difference with Bush. In this vein the “family values” flip to “valuing families” worked extremely well.

- Borrow from the ‘Michael Moore wing’ of the Democrats to rally the troops. Talk about American ingenuity and ability to meet our energy needs instead of relying on the Saudi royal family.

- About 2/3 of the Vietnam references.

- About 1/2 of the optimism and the later “what if” questions about reaching our potential.

Here’s what fell flat or at least wasn’t strong to my ear:

- Early family life, the jokes weren’t there and the interesting material wasn’t there either. It’s nice he learned to love trees as nature’s cathedral with his mom, it would have been better if he had learned poetry or rhetoric from her too.

- His nuclear family acknowledgements. He had to do it; did he have to do it like that?

- Kerry not wearing ‘religion on his sleeve’ but having and being informed by faith. Perhaps the best part of this was the Lincoln quote about humbly praying that you are on the side of God instead of saying God is on your side. The ideas were there, for instance the bi-partisan reach for the (much more eloquent) first Republican president, but the execution didn’t work.

- Paradoxically, while the message of “help” was strong, the constant refrain of “help is on the way” came off corny, with the references to the individual Americans facing challenges coming off as forced formula.

- About 1/3 of the Vietnam references.

- About 1/2 of the optimism and the later “what if” questions about reaching our potential.

Overall it was the best I’ve seen or read from Kerry, and I’d even say it was genuinely rousing at times. Unfortunately it continued the modern speech style of crafted sound bytes that lack a coherent overall structure, but work well for TV, Radio and other media. Presidents still quote Lincoln, I wish their speeches would better emulate his coherence.

I was going to vote for John Kerry this election regardless, since Bush is a complete disaster. After tonight I feel better about it.