Posts Tagged With: "Senate Seat"

Put your politics aside for a moment – a new communications star was born tonight. Unless you live under a rock, you now know of Scott Brown, who won the Massachusetts Senate race Tuesday.

I hesitated blogging on Scott Brown’s acceptance speech because I just got back from Las Vegas and it’s late and it’s too political – but after seeing him on Tivo I couldn’t resist. What Barack Obama did in 2004 in his speech at the Democratic convention, Scott Brown just did in 2010 in his victory speech – burst upon the national scene.

Here’s why:

• It’s a national stage – this was a very important election politically. The world was watching – the race and the speech, but even more so the clips of the speech that will be televised and blogged over the next few weeks. And because of his surprising and excellent communicating he is immediately a force to be reckoned with.
• He packages and uses symbols well (SHARPS in our language). The obvious political phrase “We can do better” became a repeated litany. But probably the best is his iconic and populist green truck that has 201,000 miles on it, and which he made a point of driving and referencing throughout the campaign. Well publicized, he referenced it several times, causing the chant “Drives A Truck, Drives a Truck…”
• He is humorous – making several jokes – playing basketball with Barack Obama, a sign on supporter’s lawn, and even joked about his daughters’ being ‘available’ (maybe not politically correct however.)
• Focused on his issues. He appropriately thanked Massachusetts for electing him, and emphasized the independents, but he immediately went to national issues. He was articulate in speaking to his view on the Health Care bill, and what he was going to do about that, as well as his views on spending, taxes and the war.
• He can turn a phrase. He actually turned many phrases, but perhaps one of the best lines he had was talking about terrorists and saying, “our tax dollars should pay for weapons to stop them and not lawyers to defend them.”
• His use of the teleprompter was excellent. President Obama could take lessons from him.
• And the importance of a smile – it served Ronald Reagan very well, and it serves Brown. He is energetic, attractive, personable (spontaneously related to many on stage) and confident – important communication attributes.

But above all, his victory speech created a communication experience, and not just for the enthusiastic, and very large, crowd of supporters. For the viewer the image of confidence, strength and purpose was powerful. Although there’s a lot of water yet to go under Scott Brown’s bridge, right now, like him or not politically, he is a force to be reckoned with.