Speechifying Tampa

As some of you know, I am interested in public speaking.  Not good at it, but interested -- an inheretance of Hamilton.  Last night in Tampa we watched a showcase of the great and the awful.

Ann Romney's pean to love and to the love of her life was pitch perfect.  Tight content, beautifully performed, precisely fitted to her audience.  She told us what she was going to tell us, told us, and told us what she had told us: classic structure delivered with passion, charm and sincerity.  It will be a classic of political speech.

Among some truly awful ones was keynoter Chris Christie.  Usual cant and bluster, crude efforts to arouse the crowd, no humor, no charm.  And to insult his predecessor Ann Romney, his opening thought was we don't need love, we need respect.  What kind of a tin ear has he to throw cold water all over an audience still radiating the charm spell Ann Romney had woven.