D Politicians, Pundits, and Stars 217
By the way, I cringe in using “sensationalist” about Hillary
Clinton’s speaking style.
To describe Hillary Clinton’s style as anything more than
wooden or mechanical, you would need to see her “on cause.” The
first thing I notice about her speaking style is the tether to the text,
whether her statement is a few sentences or a few pages. I do not
think she is always reading, but rather barriering herself. Regard-
less, her habit of “reading” has invited criticism, including a recent
jab from Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. In a Senate
probe in response to the secretary, Clinton once again read her
brief comment from a prepared statement and he took shots at her
because of it. She held her lips pursed, and had the tone of voice of
a prim grammar-school teacher as she chided the secretary for his
and President Bush’s failures. Hillary at her best. How can you
respond to her attacks? This is about you, not her. She represents
thetruth. This energy sent a clear picture of the Holy Warrior
prepared to do battle for what is right (actually, “correct”).
In watching speech after speech, I rarely saw her raise her cen-
ter of gravity from behind the podium. She moved along precisely
enunciating every word, as though she needed to be understood by
one of those automated bill-paying systems. She gestures and uses
her hands appropriately enough to get her point across. Facial fea-
tures also reflect a congruency with her speech, and, occasionally,
she even leaks a little emotion. When she is “on cause,” though,
she springs to life. She can take on the role of smug Holy Warrior in
an instant. Her body armor becomes the issue she is supporting,
whether it is the defeat of a voucher system because some parents