“It’s a good thing to stay on message until it’s not” wrote Forbes’ Magazine contributor, John Baldoni in response to Marco Rubio’s 4-time robotic repetition of the phrase ” Let’s dispel this fiction that Barack Obama doesn’t know what he’s doing. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s trying to change America.”
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Every public speaker should get in touch with his/her core set of beliefs beforehand and organize them in three to five bullet points that can be internalized and incorporated in conversation. This way, there is a consistency of message and audiences know what you stand for. But, “speak like you mean it, not as if you simply memorized it, ”Mr. Baldoni continues.
Ronald Reagan was so adept as staying on message, yet delivered with warmth and sincerity that he became known as The Great Communicator. The late poet Maya Angelou wrote, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
And Mr. Rubio isn’t alone in debate mistakes. History is littered with presidential candidates who made media gaffes that came to define them. For Dan Quayle, it was a brief comparison between himself and John F. Kennedy in the 1988 presidential election. For Howard Dean in the 2004 Democratic primary, it was “the scream.” For Rick Perry in the 2012 Republican primary, it was “oops.” And for Michael Dukakis, again in 1988, it was his dispassionate policy-over-compassion remark on opposing the death penalty even with the hypothetical rape and murder of his beloved wife, Kitty.
Out of context, these seem fairly benign, but each reinforced the candidate’s perceived weakness. Dean screamed just as pundits questioned his temperament for the White House, while Perry stuttered in the face of uncertainty about his intelligence and Mr. Dukakis, his coldness.
And even, Governor Christie, who so rattled Mr. Rubio into robotically repeating his prepared soundbite, is legendary for bullying tactics.
There’s an old saying in media coaching, “the camera doesn’t lie, nor does it blink!”