Boomerang

With among the lowest approval ratings of any President in U.S history, Bush’s political problems aren’t going away any time soon. His most recent communications push to convince the American public that nuclear energy is the solution for our global warming is what, for me, makes him such an impossible and frustrating leader. I can only image what it does to his numerous communication aides who rally daily trying to control, and having to defend, the Bush brand.

As many bloggers and journalists have pointed out recently, the first problem is that suddenly Bush, a.k.a. Mr. There’s No Such Thing as Global Warming, has stated: “There can be no solution [to global warming] without nuclear power.” Um… okay, so there is such a thing as global warming? For real?

My issue is not about content – many experts have agreed that nuclear is a direction worth exploring – but cadence. Hearing Bush promote his nuclear energy strategy on NPR, I was struck, as I have been so many times before, at the staccato ineffectiveness of his speech patterns. These are subtleties and will be hard to “hear” in a blog, but next time you listen to Bush speak, take notice and you’ll know what I mean.

His main message is “nuclear power is safe.” Given that, for a variety of obvious and historical reasons, many people hear the word “nuclear” and think “death, destruction, war,” you’d think Bush would want to come off as reassuring, confident and ready to educate. But instead, by talking in his distinct whine, speaking too quickly and emphasizing the wrong words, Bush manages to make nuclear sound even scarier that many already believe it to be.

It’s not easy to change adult speech patterns, granted, but this is so fundamental: Speak slowly. Speak clearly. Emphasize, in this case, the words “is” and “safe.” Have some empathy for your audience; learn to listen even when nobody else is talking, to compromise, to persuade and to convince. Most of all, please learn that you can’t change a person’s mind simply by hammering them on the head with a message over and over – that only dulls the noise.