Oratory has become a lost art. In most American schools public speaking is no longer taught. In most American schools debating is no longer prized. In most American schools speaking up and speaking out is as likely to be excoriated as extolled.
Similarly, in most American businesses orders from on high are given in writing. In most American businesses information is distributed not by leaders but by managers. In most American businesses communication is more likely to be among peers than between superiors and subordinates.
Same applies to America’s commons, to speech broadly defined as political. Most members of the Supreme Court are effectively silent. Most members of the House and Senate are rarely seen and even less heard. Most presidents of the United States – certainly our most recent ones – have been many things but being a good orator has not been among them. During his first term in the White House Donald Trump was more off the cuff entertainer than deliberate speaker. During his only term in the White House Joe Biden was more muffled muser than considered communicator. During his second term in the White House Trump is more stream of consciousness rambler than reliable reporter. In sum, Trump, Biden, and then again Trump have failed, totally, to perform even respectably well on what is widely considered among the most important leadership skills – the capacity to communicate.
This could mean one of several things. For example, that some leaders are exempt from the usual standards – that they can get away with communicating poorly whereas others can’t. Or it might mean that how “good” communication is measured in the present is different from how it was measured in the past. Or that followers just don’t care anymore how, or even if, their leaders communicate with them. Maybe there are now so many distractions, so many things competing for our attention, that what leaders say and how they say it no longer matter.
However – it seems still to hold true that when a remarkably gifted speaker enters the political arena people will stop and they will listen. They will bestow on said speaker that rarest of gifts – their attention.
Check out Zohran Mamdani. We know by now that he came out of nowhere to become mayor-elect of New York City. We don’t fully know how he did it. There are several explanations, of course, ranging from what is objectively New York City’s affordability crisis to his own, especially skilled use of social media first to make himself known and then to send his message. But if you really want to grasp his success, check out the speech he delivered late last night, his victory speech. Whatever you might think of the content, it was a remarkable display of oratorical skill. It was a throwback to when how leaders communicated with followers was of consummate importance.
Maybe oratory is more forgotten art than lost art. Maybe when a leader speaks exceptionally clearly and concisely, forcefully and convincingly and in a ringing voice; maybe when a leader’s diction is superb and their language is well chosen, and maybe when a leader knows how to read a room and frame their presentation accordingly, maybe then great oratory remains an asset as invaluable as incalculable.
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