This week, Mitt Romney will have one last chance to connect with the American public. To this point, his personality is a blank sheet to most voters. To those who have been paying attention, he is wooden and aloof. Friends say that he's really a great guy, but that's not how he comes across, and in politics, impressions are everything.
What's more, his opponent is one of the best orators the White House has ever seen, and he has in Jon Favreau a very talented speech-writer. You can count on Barack Obama lighting up the stage in Charlotte, oozing common sense and clipping his g's ("payin" rather than "paying" a little more in taxes) to sound like just plain folks. It is a given that Obama's acceptance speech will be dynamite. So this week, for Mitt Romney, is High Noon, and he is Gary Cooper.
I don't know who Mitt Romney's speech-writer is, or even if he has one. But the evidence to date is not good. If I were writing his speech - and I have written dozens of speeches - I would start by confessing that my opponent is a master of oratory, then segue into "but if oratory were the answer, we'd have millions of new jobs today." I would in short give the devil his due, acknowledging that he is a decent man and probably a great drinking buddy. For inspiration, I would reread the speech Shakespeare gave to Marc Antony in Julius Caesar: "for Brutus is an honorable man; so are they all, all honorable men."
There is no shortage of material for a barn-burning speech. The headlines are full of grim economic statistics, But they must be packaged artfully. Just reciting statistics will not energize viewers, but just put them to sleep.
If Mitt Romney blows it this week, the election is over. There will be other speeches to give, but no one will be listening.
