Public Speaking – When Bill Clinton bombed

Effortless public speaking is a result of hard work. And coaching

Ever since a colleague of mine translated for him in Berlin in the early 90’s, I have been a fan of Bill Clinton’s speeches and his casual, disarming and natural delivery and it would be easy to argue that he is the best speaker in the world today.

The way he performs in today is where everyone should aim to be – he speaks “authentically” as if to you alone, he uses natural everyday language that includes and that is digestible and he gives the impression that this is a cosy exchange rather than a one-way broadcast.

But he wasn’t always like that. I dug out this gem from the Salon called “When Bill Clinton died on Stage” which compares his performance nominating Barack Obama for a second term in 2012 with his dismal nomination speech endorsing Michael Dukakis in 1988. The speech was slammed by national papers and even by his home state paper summed it up like this:

Gov. Bill Clinton’s big national moment, his prime time speech Wednesday night in nomination of Michael Dukakis, was an unmitigated disaster.

A gentler, more charitable assessment would be less than honest, considering the reaction of delegates, network commentators and the national press.

All trashed him, some unmercifully, for being boring, ponderous, long-winded, disjointed and seemingly unfazed by the convention crowd’s clear desire for him to sit down.

Sometimes you have to fall on your face before you realise that you need to get some help. Clinton may have been coached before the 1988 performance but I would imagine that this failure and all the associated bad media coverage made him up his game and his focus after that.

He hired Michael Sheehan and the rest is American and world history. Of course, you can argue that he has loads of practice (true and important) and that he ought to be a good speaker after having been President for 8 years.

But would he have become President without Sheehan’s help?

Have a look for yourself at this clip of what Governor Clinton was like in 1988 at the age of 41 – the reaction from the Democrat convention is astonishing when you think how he is idolised now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0TdQwyd08A