The Decline of Presidential Rhetoric and the Problem of Speech in a Democracy

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	The Decline of Presidential Rhetoric and the Problem of Speech in a Democracy

akarra

5-5-2008 7:00 PM

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tags:

politics, lincoln, presidency, speech

akarra says:

Discusses the problem of speech in a democracy through following the concerns of a Lincoln scholar.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/5c627609-4e2d-4a0c-b001-b0dd740793a8/CE70CF5F-3795-431A-B75F-3785890BDF9A/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://inrethinking.blogspot.com/2008/04/in-appreciation-glen-thurow-and-problem.html" href="http://inrethinking.blogspot.com/2008/04/in-appreciation-glen-thurow-and-problem.html" style="font-size: 11px;">inrethinking.blogspot.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://inrethinking.blogspot.com/2008/04/in-appreciation-glen-thurow-and-problem.html">The devolution of Presidential rhetoric, perhaps starting with the very notion of TR's "bully pulpit," much less the theater of the modern State of the Union, demonstrates the problem he confronts fully. The executive is not constructed to speak, but to act. If he speaks, his speech must result in effective action. It is tempting to say that in a country where popular opinion is everything, the President's power to persuade is his most effective action. Thus, the "bully pulpit," the televised State of the Union, the press conferences, the Presidential reading lists, the campaign books, etc. etc. are not a product of politics merely trying to give Oprah competition. Rather, the President could be doing his job in being a second-rate media figure.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://inrethinking.blogspot.com/2008/04/in-appreciation-glen-thurow-and-problem.html">All one has to do, though, to demolish the argument that the President's primary power lies in persuasion is focus on what an inability to persuade does to effective action.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/CE70CF5F-3795-431A-B75F-3785890BDF9A/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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