What makes a great political speech? Let’s talk about oratory, my fellow citizens | Paul Daley

Submitted by Paul Daley on Thu, 19/05/2022 - 9:48am

The leader must be willing to go beyond party politics, and demonstrate humanity, candour and raw emotion

Of all the millions of words uttered on the hustings during this unedifying federal election campaign, few, if any, will be remembered as having soared to any great oratory heights.

These days election stump speeches tend to be quickly devoured in the voracious churn of the perpetual news cycle, and largely parsed in disconnected chunks for their strategic and market-tested messaging rather than their cadences and artistry.