Bobby "The Bedwetter" Jindal told the Associated Press he ain't gonna hire no speaking coach, ain't gonna hire no speechwriter.
"Look, I get that people thought I
could have spoken better. I get that. That's fine … What's important
to me is the content. I'm a policy guy. You guys know that. I've always
been a policy guy, always will be a policy guy. The ideas are
important. The substance is important."
How many of us have felt this contempt for communication technique as somehow being anathema to intellect. Usually we get this from engineers, IT goons and finance types, and usually in the corporate sphere.
But to hear the substance vs. communication style bit from a politician—and in the age of Obama, mind you—this proves this is one stubborn prejudice.
Has anyone out there managed to convince a "policy guy"—or a science guy or a strategy guy or a numbers guy—that it's okay and even advisable to be a communication guy at the same time?
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