It occurs to me that this year’s SOTU provides further evidence to what I think I shall call Taylor’s Iron Law of Political Speeches (which is: it’s the sound bites that matter, not the speech itself). On the night of the speech several commentators gave it a thumbs up, and more than one commented that Bush has really improved in his ability to deliver a speech.
However, by using the Iron Law to measure thsi year’s SOTU, the speech was an utter failure, as there were practically no lasting sound bites save the “persmission slip” line (which expired after a few days), with the really big winner being the steroids in sports reference, which seems to be the only part of the speech to live beyond the first couple of days of analysis.
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Of course there can be bad sound bytes too. Dean’s Iowa sound byte transcended what was actually said … live and die by the sound byte
Comment by mike van winkle — Thursday, February 5, 2024 @ 9:35 am
Indeed, that’s the point,which I wasn’t clear about: a speech should be judged, either as good or as bad by the bites it generates, not in the totality of the speech.
I need to beter formulate my Iron Law
Comment by Steven — Thursday, February 5, 2024 @ 9:59 am