….will be the best day in the history of American politics.
After watching the fiery vice presidential debate both republicans and
democrats were pleased with the performance of their respective candidates. To
democrats Biden’s smiling showed how stupid Paul Ryan was, and to republicans
Ryan’s youthful (or school boy naivety?) was refreshing.
But from
both sides of the spectrum, people were anywhere from slightly critical to
disgusted by Biden’s “tell it how it is” attitude. One of the comments scanning
the bottom of my screen during the debate quoted Biden saying something along
the lines off “I tell it how it is” with a participant added the #OhWeKnow. I
thought it was funny, but the sarcasm did highlight a troubling fact. That there
seemed to be a sort of double standard when it came to political honesty. Biden
was illustrating the type of “give it to me straight” talk many crave in a
system clouded by style and presentation, but we then spend precious media time
talking about how he comes off too strong.
We expect
our politicians to be political. Yet we hate the phoniness of the political
process. When politicians become straight-talking realists, it’s like the
American people suddenly become hypocrites to their own requests. Ron Paul, Joe
Biden. Damnit let them say it how it is! Don’t punish them for finally being
true to their constituents.
Who cares
if Joe Biden comes off “strong”. This isn’t relationship therapy; this is
politics that affects lives. I wouldn’t care if Biden got on stage and cussed
out Paul Ryan, as long as what he said was to the point and not masked behind
silly stories about meeting Joe Schmoo the electrician or the beauty of god in
his personal life. And while my title is grossly exaggerated, I think the point
is clear. Yes there should be a balance, and it does say something about a
man’s personality if they speak aggressively, but I also think accepting an aggressive
personality for a straight shooting politician is a great deal.
I definitely agree with your view point on this subject, people are so quick to criticize when a politician does not tell the truth, but when the people are given what they want they cannot handle it. I think in general people cannot handle bluntness and complete honesty. Even when we ask one another how we are, we expect the other person to say fine thanks and not go on and on about their problems....but we are asking them how they are doing....so why should they not be truthful about it?
ReplyDeleteI think many people see Biden's bluntness as too aggressive, but I'm not so sure this is a bad quality, I think this can be used to do a lot of good work and frankly is much more appealing than someone who down plays the truth.
While it would be extremely refreshing and entertaining to see one politician publicly cuss out/rip apart their opponent, it will never happen. This precedent has been set through many years of candidates monitoring their words in order to get their point across "eloquently" and "inoffensively." As the blog post "Significance of Style" describes it, a successful public speaker must use body language and portray "political pageantry" in combination with their words to move a crowd.(http://walkingthehalls.blogspot.com/2012/09/significance-of-style.html) If Biden were to cuss out Ryan, he would come across as immature and revolting to a large majority of the audience. For this reason, politicians will continue to display their true feelings through actions such as laughter, eye-rolling and "school boy" behaviors.
ReplyDeleteYou are tackling a great quandary faced by politicians, or aspiring leaders at all levels, which is, 'how should we communicate to large groups of people of disparate or uncertain background?" Communication is moderated or predicated on anecdote as a tool to be received well by anyone. The risk of upsetting groups of people with a tone that is charged with emotion, meaning, and stigma is too great for Biden or any other politician to honestly consider. Some politicians stray closer to the straight talk (even McCain was the "straight-talk express"), but they must think strategically so that the part of their message that people will latch onto is heard. If one has ever tried to persuade or convince, the experience of being cordial and inviting and being parsed as empathetic is fresh in the mind. The appropriate response that would build on this would have to come from a scholar in the field of communication, or perhaps an experienced businessman. Think with your audience in mind, goes the cliche, but what if that audience is not so simple to characterize?
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