This phrase in an article headlined ‘Thousands fall under senator’s spell’ in Friday’s Telegraph caught my attention. Describing Obama’s sensational performance in Berlin it was suggesting that his power of oratory is greater, currently anyway, than his speech writing, although that’s not bad.
A musician friend puts it down to his cadence, something that so distinguished Martin Luther King. When you add to this an unexaggerated, but compelling, body language you can see how he captivated the live crowd in Berlin and impacted on the wider television audience.
Our leaders all aimed to borrow a little of his sunshine with their various photo opportunities over the weekend but only Sarkozy, it seemed to me, came across as his equal in the charisma stakes!
I don’t know if Obama rehearses or not, but strongly suspect that he does. What I do know is that rehearsal breeds confidence and allows personality to shine through. To quote a copywriter friend “rehearsal makes nice people nicer”.