Is Kucinich a good speaker?

[lancemurdoch]

I saw Kucinich speaking on C-SPAN recently. I like his resume, he is a progressive, unlike Dean who people say he is a progressive while he goes on Meet the Press and says we have to raise the age of social security, speaks of balanced budgets as a mantra and is called a "fiscal conservative" in every newspaper article (what's so "progressive" about that?). However I did not think he was that great a speaker, and as much as I prefer Kucinich's resume and ideas on economic issues and support for working class people, I thought Dean blew him away as a speaker, in ability to express himself and so forth. Not that I'd vote for Dean in a primary...Reagan was good in a technical sense as a speaker, after all. But in looking at the field of candidates, I had heard a lot about Kucinich, his resume, his ideas, progressive people who support him...but I feel he's horrible at expressing progressive ideas, speaking and so forth...or any ideas.

Frankly Dean is very charismatic and a good speaker and is probably a good debater, but I want someone who is economically for working people. So Gephardt is my candidate because he has always been strong for labor, and for issues, especially economic ones, facing the working class - he voted against NAFTA. He has a long, long record in this regard. So he is my favorite. A lot of people here who support someone else find some or other minor, and I stress minor, error he made at some point in his very long career and say he can be dismissed for some one minor flaw or mistake. Which of course is ridiculous. If Kucinich was a great speaker, I'd probably be torn between Gephardt and Kucinich, but I am so unimpressed by Kucinich's seeming inability to communicate that I am for Gephardt solely.

[lebkuchen]

1. Kucinich knows what he's talking about, unlike Bush

and he's passionate about liberal issues. He interviews well and debates with calm, reason, and, as I said, passion, which has been lacking in the democratic party of late. Of course, this is all off the cuff. I don't know how he performs reading a script.

[MoonGod]

2. I agree that Kucinich's public speaking leaves something to be desired...

... though having seen him look great in a couple of 1-on-1's (or 1-on-2's), I think there's hope. He has that tendency to rant when he's doing public speaking/debate. But seeing how cool, calm, collected, and witty he came across in those interviews... I think that if he works on it, he can adapt that to his "stage persona".

As far as "minor" flaws/mistakes/errors go, I simply can't see USAPATRIOT as "minor". That was probably the single biggest revocation of civil liberties since the Civil War.

That said, more power to you for going with your gut and choosing Gephardt. If you can donate time or money to his campaign, I recommend it. It feels great.

[Mairead]

3. Good on you for taking a stand!

I partly agree with you about Dennis's speaking abilities. About the only thing I can comfort myself with is the passage from the Tao Te Ching that reminds us that not all honest words are fine, nor fine words honest. Some honest words are poorly spoken because they come from the heart in an uncalculated way.

Of course, not everyone cares about the Tao! :)

[gottaB]

4. The Tao of Speaking, American style

My first impression of Kucinich is that he's hot. Sometimes he winks, or displays a cool understanding, or subtlety, wryness. Mostly he's hot.

He speaks in prayers. In part he is part of a long tradition of evangelical oratory in politics. But his prayers are not all fire and brimstone. They have something of the Toa te Ching in them. Nevertheless his delivery is definitely hot.

Dennis' speaks prayers, but his voice is not stentorian. The other day I heard Kweisi Mfume and he sounded a lot like Martin Luther King, the way he held tones. Dennis sounds like the early John Coltrane, before the Quartet and Love Supreme. He should listen to "Alabama" and all of Love Supreme, but esp. "Psalm." I get the feeling Dennis digs classical Indian music, but maybe not the echoes of it in Coltrania. The tenor saxophone is still the largest voice of American suffering and joy, of aspiration. Bill Clinton knew that, and even though he was a little square, it worked for him.

Dennis may naturally be an alto, but he should steer away from hard-edged sound of the young Jackie McClean or Kenny Garret. Garret's mature sound is a good model for filling space and getting your message heard. Guys like Greg Osby and Oliver Lake have good sound, but their headiness isn't suited to Kucinich's prayers.

[DrFunkenstein]

10. For Better or Worse, The Guitar Is America's Voice

Although the sax had some jazz heavyweights like Charlie Parker, the guitar is the voice of American joy and suffering - from Bob Dylan's acoustic to Jimi Hendrix's fireworks, nothing speaks more of the pop immediacy of American life than the guitar. Three chords and the truth, as the saying goes.

---

Kucinich has nothing of the resonance or cadences of the African-American tradition embodied by "Alabama." He is perhaps as frenetic as Coltrane, but I would put him closer to Springsteen's habit of putting too many words into a lyrical phrase (to great effect, of course).

---

Sidenote: Kerry plays guitar, and I hope he whips it out (the guitar) with his friends James Taylor and Carole King. It would be cooler if he played Led Zeppelin or Kiss (the thought of Kerry playing "Detroit Rock City" has me giggling even now, although that might not be the effect he would want to go for).

[gottaB]

14. Sidenote, huh?

The thing about the guitar is that melodically it's got a similar range to the tenor, but the great players are as orchestral in their sound as they are melodic--imho. But you're right, for Americans the guitar is vox populi.

--

I was saying Kucinich *needs* to listen to "Alabama" which I hear as Coltrane channeling MLK. I was saying he sounds like the pre-quartet Coltrane, around about the "Sheets of Sound" period or earlier, when he was insistent and searching but hadn't quite found a way of his own--you know, when critics would compare him to Dexter Gordon for the roughness of his sound, but not listen much deeper. Blue Trane is something else, but maybe you get what I'm saying.

Kucinich does sound like a preacher to me, which is a tradition in American politics. But his voice is lacking power. I meant as an aside that Mfume recently sounded a lot like MLK to me, who was a very effective and powerful speaker, and that's what led me off on the Coltrane tangent.

__

Does Kerry read btw? I read somewhere that he plays classical guitar, but then I also read about him jamming with James Taylor et al. so I wondered.

I meant to comment in your "crotch rocket" thread about Kerry's masculine image and masculinity as campaign theme. (I'll get around to it later.) I imagined a campaign commercial with Kerry on his hog and something like "Born to be Wild" playing. Then I fastforwarded to the end of Easy Rider. Don't want to go there.

For maleness, many-faceted, intelligent, but unassailably male, I'd think something more like Springsteen. Zep or Kiss--too much bagage, bad sexual politics. But "Born in the USA," with all its meanings, that could be a coup.

__

I made a joke in one thread about Willie Nelson giving Kucinich some singing lessons. Wouldn't be such a bad thing for him, really. At least they should appear on stage together. He's got a such a nice voice, Willie Neslon.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

5. bush* set the standard for public speaking ..it is a moot issue imho..

and kuncinich leaves the moron in the dust!

[leftyandproud]

6. He is right on the issues and stands up for the BASE consistently...

which is all you need to know.

[burr]

7. My opinion of Pelosi has changed over the last few weeks.

When the Democrats again become the majority, she is the one who can restore civility to the House of Representatives. The gentlemen have made a mockery of order and the rules of the House for far too long. John Lewis or Kucinich, if he is still in the House at that point, would be an excellent majority leader. But the Speaker must do more than set the agenda and do PR, this is the job of the floor leaders, the Speaker must work with the other party and with the Senate to get the legislative logjams worked out. This is what the Speaker's role SHOULD BE, not that of a partison tyrant like Newt or Dennie have become. Tom Foley is a classic example of what we should want from any House Speaker.

I, of course, am speaking legislatively.

[revcarol]

8. In person, he is a POWERFUL public speaker.

Saw him in Santa Fe, at a distance of about 15 feet.

Enthusiasm, passion, honesty, well thought out policies,rapport with the audience, speaking for the people - he reminded me of RFK.

If you can get his "Prayer for America" video you can see more than video or sound clips.

[burr]

9. I have not seen him speak in person, but I would like to.

At the beginning I think he had trouble balancing his enthusiasm with the message he was delivering to the crowds. But I think he is mastering it with every speech he delivers.

As long as he sticks with preaching his message and stays away from singing, he will surprise many in the primaries. :thumbsup:

[Desertrose]

11. I first saw a video, then saw him "live"

I saw the "prayer for America" and wasn't sure what to expect...but ya know what, I was impressed by his "singing"...it was done more as poetry than a hymn and I thought it was very powerful.

I saw him in person - maybe about 20' away and he was eloquent and well spoken. He didn't shout ...he didn't preach and he certainly was well received by the audience.

He spoke for about 15-20 min and then took questions and expounded on them. He never missed a beat & wove the answers together in a very coherent manner from one question to another...it just flowed. I was sorry when his time was up.

But I then got to shake his hand & speak with himdirectly and was again most impressed that when he speaks to you - he is right there,not looking around to see if there is someone more important or where the cameras are.

Dennis Kucinich is for real...has great vsion...has the capapcity to bring this world back to rights....he has the energy & drive to do this...all we have to do is spread the word & vote for him.

Sounds very possible to me. :shrug:
Peace
DR

[gottaB]

15. "he speaks to you"

That speaks well of him. I hate it when candidates do that looking over somebody's shoulder thing, not facing people directly.

Has Kucinich done any townhall type appearances like Edwards is doing? I wish all the candidates would do that, just to see how they mingle after the event.

[Mairead]

16. Take a look at this

http://www.slumdance.com/brian_flemming/my_photos/kucinich/index3.html

I found it very impressive, particularly the account of the Q&A session after the speech.

[Desertrose]

12. if Gephardt is so strongly for labor...

why did he happen to miss the overtime bill in the house?? It was passed 213 to 210.

Where were all the strong on labor dems then???

Kucinich was there...and voted against the bill that will stop overtime pay...

I'm curious....is the "persona" more important than the issues???
Do we see in a candidate what we want them to be or what is really there????

I think you need to look a bit more closely at Kucinich...seeming inability to communicate ....may be more what the media wants you to see than what is really true......

Peace
DR

[lancemurdoch]

13. bill

This is the type of thing I care nothing about. Gephardt has a career going back to the 1976 in the Congress, yet in the Democratic primary we're supposed to forget about his almost three decades in Washington DC and suddenly disqualify Gephardt for not voting on a vote which they knew they didn't have the votes on anyway in the House of Representatives. The Democrats knew their only chance of killing it was in the Senate weeks before the vote took place. I'm sure to see a lot of this nonsense in the months ahead...the corporate media seems to only be able to focus and talk about what happened that day or that week, thus meaning, the only thing that matters are Gephardt's or whoevers flubs or mistakes this year. I on the other hand look at his three decades of service to working class Americans, and unless he comes out and says "I should have voted for NAFTA" or makes some shift like that, I am behind him.