When Cicero Spoke- Full disclosure

When Cicero Spoke- Full disclosure - my father was a speech teacher. I study oratory and its role in history.

I was talking with a friend about the relative merits of President Bush and former president Clinton, especially Bush's merits and failings as a public speaker - and his rising to the occasion since September 11. Because while Clinton was a great orator, and Bush's gaffes are amply-publicized (although Al Gore's equally-hilarious gaffes curiously went unreported in the national media), Bush has risen to the occasion, delivering some fantastic speeches at just the times the nation needed them.

"But Mitch", said my friend, a Democrat, "that was just a bunch of feel-good platitudes, designed to keep the nation's spirits up during the crisis!".

Yes, indeed. And Winston Churchill's classic "Dunkirk" and "Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat", and "Battle of Britain" speeches never shot down a single German bomber. But they buffed up Britain's nerves for the struggle ahead - a struggle perhaps vastly greater and, at the time, more one-sided than the one we face now.

In this, Bush is doing very well.

He'll be taking the podium shortly. If I have comments, I'll put them here.