McCain v. Obama: Communication Skill

[Quick note: I should have said this from the start of this series of posts just to make it perfectly and forthrightly clear: I do not favor one of these candidates over the other based on their race, their gender, their age, or their particular religion. I would favor one over the other only due to differences in policies, ability, skills, and character. If Condoleeza Rice was running for the Republicans, I would vote for her in a second. If Senator Harry Reid (a Mormon, and current Senate Majority Leader) were running for the Democrats, I’m sure I wouldn’t vote for him. For the Democrats, “identity politics” based on voting for or against someone based on whether they are a member of “your racial/gender group” has been an issue (particularly in this primary season, it seems). For Republicans, gender and race and age don’t seem to matter so much, but apparently for some, their religious affiliation does (i.e. for some who voted against Romney at least in part due to discomfort with his being Mormon), though these appear to be a fairly small minority.]

[UPDATE: Based on input from a friend, let me clarify also that I don't mean to impugn Democrats or Republicans as a whole in the above statement; I was really more thinking of this campaign season along with some of the recent histories of the parties where some of these group identity issues have played a role. This point has been made by numerous mainstream media sources and bloggers based on exit polling.]

Now let’s consider the differences between John McCain and Barack Obama in communication skill. Despite all the advantages I see for McCain compared to Obama, this is an area where Obama has a crushing advantage. Obama is compelling to listen to. His rhetoric is inspiring. McCain too often sounds like…well, a stodgy old Senator. I’m not saying McCain can’t be compelling too, because he can be. But hand it to Barack…he’s very good in this area.

However, there are two issues I have here. 1) At least so far, Obama hasn’t said very much. That is, he says the same things over and over and over. It is great stuff, but once you’ve heard it a time or two, it becomes less compelling. 2) Action is needed, not just words. I do not agree with the criticism suggested by Hillary Clinton and other Obama critics that it’s “just words” or that words don’t matter much. As Obama rightly suggested in response, words can mean a lot and are very important. However, words alone do not cut it. It’s one thing to inspire people as John Kennedy did with “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” It’s another thing to do something or act on that inspiration.

What you really want is someone who can say the words that inspire and in a way that inspires, but who can then also translate it into effective action. That is, you want a Ronald Reagan who could say “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” but could also build up the military and a more focused and strong foreign policy to cause the Soviet Union to implode internally which in turn led to that wall coming down.

Unfortunately, we don’t appear to have a Ronald Reagan running this year. You have Obama’s inspiring words but with almost nothing to show for it, and you have McCain’s more limited ability to communicate and inspire, but with significant practical experience in getting things done in Washington. Since we only get one of the two, you decide what’s more important.