There were not the majestic flourishes in the grand manner that oratorical eloquence normally dictated. For example, Clay could not touch Daniel Webster when it came to declamation. He was, most listeners agreed, unlike any other speaker. Consider the influence of one of the truly great public speakers, Henry Clay, who dominated the first half of the 19th Century. Yet politics historically has attracted some of history’s spellbinders, from Demosthenes to Winston Churchill, Cicero to Adlai Stevenson. Is it just the public’s distaste for braying politicians or is it perhaps that oratory no longer is an art to be relished only by the immediate listeners? There is nothing quite like the harrumphing, molasses/tobacco/bourbon-oiled tonsils of a windy legislator, especially if he comes from that part of the South where potential demagogues are trained in elocution. The fastest way to empty a room these days is to switch on the television to a congressional debate.
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