The Essence of Political Speeches
- Hamim Khalil
- Oct 20, 2022
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 25, 2023
An election is part of a process of a democratic country. Therefore, almost all citizens will go to the ballot vote to choose their leaders, the Parliament's representative and the Prime Minister.
In the process of an election, politicians will use the best techniques of communication to convince the audiences that they are the best candidates for them. So, let us find out how great leaders used these arts and strategies to win the votes.
1) Create Bonding and Trust with the Audiences
To be a politician is different from being a leader of a company or organization. Politicians need to be as closely related to their audience as possible. A good politician will speak on the same experience to his audience. He bonds with the audience through the story of his background, achievements, and experience.
Barack Obama is outstanding in giving speeches; below is an example of how his address connects to his audience, who were School children from kindergarten to 12th grade. In addition, he told the story of his experience as an American student keeping up with his education while living abroad.
On the other occasion, at the National Democratic Convention in 2004, Obama introduced himself by telling the story of his multi-diversity family background as a point to relate to his life as an American; He emphasized that his family story is part of a larger American family story and his story of success unlikely to happen in other countries, except in America. He blended all the points he wanted to say in his speech about America. It was a place of opportunity; where his parent was poor, his father and family had better lives through education in the USA. His parents met each other, and they fell in love with each other and had families. America is a place for meeting people. In addition, he also told the story of his grandfather, who had joined the US Armies after Japan bombarded the US. Obama's pointed out to his audiences that he was an American, that his family (grandfather) had made sacrifices for America, and you could trust him to be your leader.
Politicians need to convince they are capable of solving the people's needs. It is like building a bridge of trust with your audience. So politicians will use whatever tools they have, such as telling stories related to audiences, and they are part of the families of the audiences.
2) Stimulating Changes
Politicians like to use the word "Change" in their campaigns. Change is the keyword to start their agendas. To have a change, they need to find weaknesses of the current status, and then the points of liability will become their agenda of change. Politicians will be very good at finding issues and problems in the country or abroad. Some politicians will hire research groups and consultants to get a consensus, citizen opinion, and issues raised by the majority.
Below is the campaign by Donald Trump:
3) We do it together
Some politicians embrace togetherness in their speeches; by requesting support and actions from the citizens. After being appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK), Boris Johnson urged all British to explore more opportunities from Brexit. Without the European Union's control, the British get more chances to venture and invest in new technology. The UK will take its natural and historical role. as an enterprising, outward-looking, and genuinely global Britain, generous in temper and engaging with the world. He was more optimistic compared to challenges in the future of the UK.
4) We do it now
Some politicians are too anxious to give promises and hope. These politicians may fall into an over-committed trap made by themselves. Citizens may recall, and it affects the reputation of the politician. Anwar Ibrahim is among the senior politicians of Malaysia. His famous remark, "Today, if we win the election, our government will reduce the local petrol price.",
People must be aware that petrol price changes because of the market demand and forecast. At the same time, the petrol subsidy is a budgetary and government expense. Therefore, the costs of the government must go to Parliament for debate.
4) Conclusion
There are three skills that a good speaker must have: 1) Good Story Telling, 2) Good giving detail of an event or subject, and 3) Using the antithesis method in his speech.
Antithesis - A few words, phrases, clauses, or sentences; of contrasting ideas use parallel and grammatical structure to make it easier to understand. For example: 1) There is no liberal America. There is no conservative America. There is only one, the United States of America. 2) Man proposes; God disposes. Speech is silver; but silence is God
In the history of world politics, politicians may not have used many speeches to change the government; Mahatmatma Gandhi achieved his objective without unleashing speech but through non-violence protesting. Mahatma Gandhi's method was the most potent weapon in fighting for justice and human dignity. (Obama, 2016)
In addition, during the digital era, internet technology has been used by politicians to distribute effective political messages to their audience. Both the Democratic and Republican supporters were extensively using them in their campaigns.
Politics is not a taboo word or an act of wishful thinking; It is a democratic process of electing the nation's leaders. As a result, many qualified and caliber leaders won the election and led their countries.
In addition, by changing the leaders and political parties, by-elections are inevitable. It is an applaudable act; The world now is not the same as we lived before, where the stability of government is required to implement the development of a nation.
The world is moving fast today. The market moves up or down in a flip of seconds. Economic and currency turmoil could happen at any time when there are changes in world demand. One or two terms period is enough for one leader or party to make changes and serve the government. Overstaying will make them exhausted or unproductive.
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