"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears," says Mark Antony at the beginning of his speech at the funeral of Julius Caesar.
By the time Mark Antony is finished, he's worked the gathered mouners into a frenzy, transforming their grief over Caesar's assassination into a bloodthirsty fury at Brutus and the other traitors.
Not much has changed since Roman times.
The ability of political leaders to whip up an audience is as necessary today as it ever was.
Sadly, for Premier Christy Clark, her speech to about 800 members of the local business and political community at a Liberal Party fundraiser Friday night was followed Saturday night by John Furlong, the CEO of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.
Clark's speech was OK, which is hardly a vote of confidence for the leader of the reigning political party who will be fighting hard this time next year to win a general election.
Her years in front of the radio microphone have benefited her greatly. She follows Margaret Thatcher's approach to public speaking for a woman in public office - keep the voice low, even when speaking loudly or with emotion, to avoid sounding shrill. She varies the length of her sentences and the pace of her words. She uses short pauses at key moments. She includes transition phrases, to carry her listeners from one main point to the next.
In other words, Premier Clark does everything by the Toastmasters book.
But you don't need to have Toastmasters training to know there's a difference between being technically sound and having that charisma, energy and enthusiasm to turn a Table Topics talk into a heart-pounding call to arms.
The applause Premier Clark received after her speech matched the speech itself - loud, long and polite. Nothing more, nothing less. The fellas in the Wisers commercials clap with more enthusiasm.
Missing from Clark's speech was the kind of pulpit-pounding firebrand oratory residents of this province expect from their premiers. Clark mentioned W.A.C. Bennett Friday night but it wasn't just his vision people loved, it was the way he could articulate his vision. He made people feel they were part of something special. He and Bill Vander Zalm and Glen Clark and her former boss, Gordon Campbell, were all gifted speakers who could raise the roof off every room they opened their mouth in.
Just 24 hours after Clark's speech, Furlong put on a clinic on motivational speaking. While Clark struggled with the flow of her talk and seemed deaf to the emotional highs and lows of a great speech, Furlong had the audience hanging onto his every word. He came across as human but great, humble but extraordinary, a beer drinker and a Scotch drinker, too.
In other words, he spoke to every person in the room, regardless of who they were.
He talked candidly about failure and tragedy, but balanced them with the hope and passion that ultimately leads to success. By the time Furlong was finished speaking, he could have handed out skis and told everyone to go ski jumping off Connaught Hill, just like they did back in the 1930s, and there would have been jostling over who would go first.
It's not enough for a leader to have a vision. The true leaders in history have had a vision and then have been able to articulate that vision, inspiring people to take up the cause and spread the gospel.
If Premier Clark wants B.C. voters to unite under her free-enterprise banner and re-elect the Liberals next year, she's got work to do.
To paraphrase Mark Antony, "I speak not to disprove what the Premier spoke," but she needs a grander vision than "NDP bad, Liberals good" and then she needs to sharpen up her skills to take that vision to the people.
- Managing editor Neil Godbout
