Sep 03 2010

Enjoy the Silence

Published by at 3:03 PM under Weekly Journals

Though, not exactly front page news, I recently spied an article on a political debate involving Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. The article wasn’t so much about what was said, but what wasn’t said. Brewer, no stranger to prime time television, spent approximately the first 16 seconds of her time in awkward silence. After fumbling for a few more seconds , with an occasional stutter,  she delivered a vague and seemingly unprepared performance.

The aftermath of her “humanness” as she put it opened the floodgates for  bloggers who attacked everything from her outfit to her wrinkled appearance. After a little research, I found that her approval rating had dropped 4% in the hours following the event. Many today feel that the Kennedy era was built on charm, good-looks, and charisma rather than overall qualification. However, in Brewer’s case the opposite seems to be the reality.

Perhaps, future candidates should take notice of Governor Brewer’s stumble.  Simply utilizing mass media isn’t enough, one must prepare and understand it as well.

One response so far




One Response to “Enjoy the Silence”

  1.   Fuglsangon 03 Sep 2010 at 3:38 PM

    Include a link with your comment, Kevin. This is the piece I watched:

    http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/03/will-brewers-meltdown-prove-fatal/

    I’m sympathetic. I’m pretty awful at improvising, especially under pressure. That initial opinion swing may be an illusion. My guess is it will be short lived. Now, if people attack her, she can draw on the sympathies of people like me.

    As to the power of the media: There’s no downtime. Reactions to mistakes are immediate and people have no time to think. Politicians have no time to craft statements. Everything is live.

    What a scary world.