Campaign Speeches And Persuasive Speaking

As the political season winds down, so will by entries about the presidential race. Fortunately (at least for me) I still have a couple of political entries left. I found it interesting that John McCain said Barak O’bama will say anything to get elected. It seems to be that it has been McCain who has adopted that philosophy.

There are certainly issues that McCain could use against O’Bama, legitimate issues. McCain even references some of them on occasion. For instance, during the last debate, McCain talked about how when O’Bama was the underdog in the Democratic primaries, he was all in favor of campaign contribution reform, he was going to talk with McCain and set limits and follow certain guidelines. O’Bama did not do that.

This is an issue John McCain should be all over. “Can we trust him? He doesn’t stick to his own words and ideas”. McCain should continue to point out how once O’Bama became the candidate of the party, he changed. Instead, what do we get? We get Sarah Palin talking about William Ayers and how O’Bama pals around with terrorist.

I will soon be discussing persuasive speeches with my classes and a lot can be learned from this campaign season. Making charges without backing them up, continuing to say things until you find what sticks and constantly changing your position are all not good ideas when it comes to public speaking. I think my students will understand these concepts better simply due to the fact that I can reference the campaign.