thesilversiren (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thesilversiren) wrote2008-09-04 08:29 am
thesilversiren) wrote2008-09-04 08:29 am
Did it work? Sarah Palin
This Did it Work, is something entirely different. A speech. Notably, Sarah Palin's speech from last night.
For those unfamiliar with my Did it Work series, it is examining advertising to see if it's effective. As a political speech is trying to bolster a candidate, I thought it fell into the same category. While I am very much a Democrat, I watched last night with an open mind. I pretended as though I hadn't heard anything about Palin, and prepared to see just why they'd picked her as his running mate.
Delivering a political speech is vastly different from most speeches. It's more like being a comedic play or sitcom - there are clearly places you'll have to pause for a reaction. Only, it's for applause.
She's clearly not used to speeches. The speechwriters gave her what could have been a strong opening, but consistently, she tried to continue speaking after what was clearly provided to make the crowd cheer. By the end she had hit a good stride, and seemed to handle this much more appropriately.
There wasn't much substance. She spent more time introducing her family (who mostly seemed embarrassed to be paraded around) than she did actually talking about herself. And she spent the rest of the speech talking about McCain and why he was better than the Democratic Candidate. Which mostly consisted of quick political low-blows.
The speech was designed to make her seem like the everyday woman she claims she is (how quirky!), show that she has experience (good for her!), and reassure everyone why she's an excellent choice.
But largely, I think that the speech failed. There was no real substance to it. We didn't really learn anything new about her, and her attempt to reassure everyone that she did have job experience was "there are actual duties involved." She didn't actually tell anyone what they were.
She can speak. She is comfortable in front of large crowds, and is attractive. There is a somewhat charming roughness to her - but what this speech needed was a little more substance, not cheap shots and jokes about hockey moms.
So did it work? Any hardcore Republican will tell you that she knocked it out the park. It played to the crowd at the RNC, as well as McCain supporters. But it failed in that there wasn't anything geared towards the Independents, nor was there anything that even spoke to the people still reeling from Hilary losing the primary.
(Tomorrow I'll work on an a Does It Work for an Obama ad)
For those unfamiliar with my Did it Work series, it is examining advertising to see if it's effective. As a political speech is trying to bolster a candidate, I thought it fell into the same category. While I am very much a Democrat, I watched last night with an open mind. I pretended as though I hadn't heard anything about Palin, and prepared to see just why they'd picked her as his running mate.
Delivering a political speech is vastly different from most speeches. It's more like being a comedic play or sitcom - there are clearly places you'll have to pause for a reaction. Only, it's for applause.
She's clearly not used to speeches. The speechwriters gave her what could have been a strong opening, but consistently, she tried to continue speaking after what was clearly provided to make the crowd cheer. By the end she had hit a good stride, and seemed to handle this much more appropriately.
There wasn't much substance. She spent more time introducing her family (who mostly seemed embarrassed to be paraded around) than she did actually talking about herself. And she spent the rest of the speech talking about McCain and why he was better than the Democratic Candidate. Which mostly consisted of quick political low-blows.
The speech was designed to make her seem like the everyday woman she claims she is (how quirky!), show that she has experience (good for her!), and reassure everyone why she's an excellent choice.
But largely, I think that the speech failed. There was no real substance to it. We didn't really learn anything new about her, and her attempt to reassure everyone that she did have job experience was "there are actual duties involved." She didn't actually tell anyone what they were.
She can speak. She is comfortable in front of large crowds, and is attractive. There is a somewhat charming roughness to her - but what this speech needed was a little more substance, not cheap shots and jokes about hockey moms.
So did it work? Any hardcore Republican will tell you that she knocked it out the park. It played to the crowd at the RNC, as well as McCain supporters. But it failed in that there wasn't anything geared towards the Independents, nor was there anything that even spoke to the people still reeling from Hilary losing the primary.
(Tomorrow I'll work on an a Does It Work for an Obama ad)