Advice to Obama for his historic speech

Five Democratic wordsmiths offer up their do's and don'ts.

By Thomas Schaller

Read more: Hillary Rodham Clinton, Politics, News, Democratic National Convention, Barack Obama, 2008 election, Thomas F. Schaller

Aug. 28, 2008 | DENVER -- There are few moments more stirring in politics than when a great orator delivers a great speech. This is especially true when a great deal is at stake, or the exigencies of the moment call for something special. Speeches are more than mere words: They can change the national discourse and, consequently, the course of the nation. Though acceptance speeches delivered by the presidential nominees at their party conventions are not as urgent as speeches delivered by presidents in wartime or other moments of national or international crisis, for each party's nominee the acceptance speech is arguably the most important one of the electoral season.

In Denver Thursday night, Sen. Barack Obama will deliver what could be remembered as the best speech of his political life -- at least to date. That is saying something, given his performance four years ago as the keynote speaker at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, his rousing victory address last January in Des Moines after he won the Iowa caucuses, and the stirring sermon-speech on race relations in America he gave in Philadelphia this past spring. Though the context for each of those speeches was different, the exigency was greater at each successive moment: The first signaled his emergence as a new force in Democratic politics; the second hallmarked his surge to the level of certifiable presidential contender; and the third was delivered when his rise to power was most imperiled.

Salon invited current and former Democratic wordsmiths -- people who have written for some of the most notable and influential Democrats nationally, including presidents, vice presidents, presidential nominees, members of Congress and Cabinet officials, among others -- to offer their advice to Obama for his speech. We asked them for some do's and don'ts, on matters of either substance or style. The abbreviated, speechwriting-relevant biographies of our five participants follow.

Wendy Anderson is a Democratic staffer on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. She has written speeches and policy papers for a number of top national Democratic officials. Michael Cohen is author of "Live From the Campaign Trail," a book about presidential campaign speeches. He has written speeches for Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson. Dan Gerstein is president of Gotham Ghostwriters, which is blogging on previews of DNC convention speeches. He has written speeches for Joe Lieberman. Jeremy Rosner is executive vice president at the consulting firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner. He has written speeches for Walter Mondale, Gary Hart, Bob Kerrey and Bill Clinton. Mark Schmitt is executive editor of the American Prospect. He has written speeches for Bill Bradley and, as a condition of participating, Mark insisted on clarifying that he did not write Bradley's widely regarded as disastrous 1992 keynote address. DO'S

I try to use the "Sorensen formula" for speechwriting: brevity, clarity, charity and levity. A really good speech comes from listening to people as well; it should be crafted with all that Barack Obama has heard in the last 18 months. A speech of this importance should also lay out a vision -- where we've been, where we are, in what direction he believes we need to move. The speech should be the finger-pointing us to the future.

At the same time, soaring rhetoric, if not grounded in policy and programmatic specifics, becomes cheap talk and doesn't alleviate the real concerns and anxiety people have. People may "feel good" after a speech, but that's not what a good, effective speech should do. In other words, the speech has to do real work, some at the level of emotion and some at the level of just plain old information. There has to be content and action. And finally, ask for help -- ask the audience for help, expressing that you need them in some way.

-- Wendy Anderson

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