Is it possible for a politician to be sincere?

Since Barack Obama’s “A more perfect union” speech I have thought a great deal about the question of political sincerity. Shortly after his retirement the well-liked John Cole, BBC political correspondent, said that most politicians were decent people with honourable objectives. And yet in our modern political age, dominated by spin and focus groups, any politician attempting to speak from the heart, to speak with conviction, to speak inspirationally, is greeted with cynicism and disbelief.

Tony “Im a pretty straight sort of guy” Blair has much for which to answer. I cannot listen to a word he says without thinking of calculating hypocrisy. I reached the stage with Patricia Hewitt that I had to turn the sound of when she appeared on television. Barack Obama’s speech was different. A speech born of necessity, certainly, but a speech that was both intelligent and inspirational. And, God knows, we need an inspirational American President.

I have been discussing this with Iain Dale. Is it possible for a modern politician to make a sincere and genuinely inspirational speech? I issued a challenge. Give me an example of such a speech made by a British or American politician since 1950, the start of the television age. The commonest suggestion has been...

... Martin Luther King’s, “I had a dream...”, but he was not a politician seeking office. Kennedy’s “Ask not what...” was moving but too redolent of the speech writer’s craft. And then, at the other extreme, there is Richard Nixon keeping a “little dog called Checkers” and not “whitewashing the White House”. Or Tony Blair, avoiding soundbites (sic) as he “felt the hand of history...”

I believe, strangely perhaps as he is so often but unfairly derided as the Welsh windbag, that Neil Kinnock’s speech to the 1985 Labour Conference was inspirational and saved the Labour Party from the Social Democrats.

“And you end in the grotesque chaos of a Labour council - a Labour council - hiring taxis to scuttle round a city, handing out redundancy notices to its own workers. I'm telling you now: No matter how entertaining, how fulfilling to short-term egos - I'll tell you and you'll listen - I'm telling you, I'm telling you - you can't play politics with people's jobs and people's services."

Hugh Gaitskell at the 1960 Labour Conference was similarly effective:

"There are some of us who will fight and fight and fight again to save the party we love. We will fight and fight and fight again to bring back sanity and honesty and dignity, so that our party - with its great past - may retain its glory and its greatness.

Compared to Kinnock and Gaitskell, Tony Blair, speaking to the Conference on Clause IV, was merely a technician re-arranging deck chairs. If Tony Blair had a political heart, he was not able to speak from it.

With the exception of Barack Obama’s “A more perfect union” speech, I struggle to find modern examples of genuinely sincere political oratory and, in particular, I struggle to find examples from Conservative politicians.  Perhaps it is we, the chatterati, who have brought this upon ourselves. We get the politicians we deserve. We are too cynical for our own good.

Comments

[Dontmakemelaugh]

"God knows, we need an inspirational American President".

No, what we need is an inspirational media instead of the mainly leftie deadbeat masochists that we have at the moment and unless Obama pleases the Left he will suddenly be uninspirational.
Kinnock was so inspiring that he lost the election and disappeared into the trough at the EU (with his wife) which he had formerly declaimed against. And you wonder why people are cynical? What has happened to Derek Conway - answer nothing, he is still claiming money as an MP.

We don't get the government we deserve. We get the government that the likes of the media and the BBC deserve - uninspirational masochists.

[Gege]

As long as you have so called 'analysts' looking for hidden interpretations of politicains' comments, it will be very difficult to find straight talking politicians.

[Malcolm Dunn]

William Hague at the Conservative Conference in 2000 'Come with me and ....I'll give you back your country' was amazingly powerful, John Major when the first gulf war broke out gave a very moving and powerful TV broadcast which ended 'God bless' was very effective at the time, and finally IDS at Conference last year gave a speech about social justice that moved me to tears.

[Dr John Crippen]

Kinnock was so inspiring that he lost the election..."

+++

Yes, sure he lost the election but he did rescue the Labour Party from both Derek Hatton and the Social Democrats.

I didn't catch IDS at the conference - he's a decent guy, but hard to see him as an orator. Hague is a brilliant orator, but more intellect than heart.

But the general point is, I think, still good. We are all so cynical that it is hard for any politician to be sincere. I mean, come on, John Major saying "God Bless"? I feel an attack of Spitting Image coming on.

John

[Arthur Dent]

An interesting comment about John Major, I never met him but all the people that I know who did meet him say that he was totally different to his media (particularly Spitting Image) persona.

You also have to define your terms a bit better. Do you mean someone who is inspirational and whose speech stands the test of time such as Churchill during WWII or merely someone who is inspirational.

Tony Blair is a truly inspirational speaker, if you have never been in a room with him when he is speaking you can have no idea of the charismatic nature of his delivery and style. Even when you detest everything he stands for you get buried in this magical euphoria and would vote for anything. A few minutes after he has left the feeling evaporates and you have no idea how that happened.

[ukipwebmaster]

"Is it possible for a politician to be sincere?"
Yes - but only in a 'Hughie Green' kind of way.

[Jack Stone]

I thought the Barak Obama sppeech was powerful and sincere.Obama is the first America politican I have seen for many years who I do think is sincere.
I think he is in politics not for himself but to make a difference to his own country and the world in general.

[Geoff]

@Arthur Dent

The first time I met John Major was at a very private party gathering in Portsmouth whilst he was PM. We didn't even know it was going to be him until he walked in the hotel room (actually the rumour was that it was going to be Lamont and I wasn't going to bother turning up).

He never had a good reputation at PMQ's but I tell you this - he electrified the room when he walked in. His personality dominated everything and he was magnificent in his oratory - to a small audience.

Then next week I saw him on PMQ's again and wondered if the other version had been abducted by aliens and replaced by the Spitting Image bloke again. My abiding memory is how much history currently underrates him.

Jack Stone is completely wrong - Barak Hussein Obama is only in it for the politics. He has no grand vision or strong platform - just spineless strategy and limp diplomacy.

[Steevo]

I think criterion has been lost simply understanding sincerity. What does it mean? There are those of us in the States who look at Obama's speech and ask about the contradiction with more than a year of denials over his knowledge of Wright's sermons. When it moves beyond the pale of believability, he 'acknowledges' with the, speech. Was he sincere, before the speech? Does that matter? And this is his sincere acknowledgment: "Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes".

A speech born of necessity? You bet. Maybe do or die. One thing I think is for sure from this point onward: Mister eloquence, which I think implies something there from the heart that makes many feel good, won't be relying on "change... change... change" anymore. It won't be quite enough for him to rely on people to believe simply because they wanna believe a man with charisma who looks sincere. I hope we have firmly established a phase in this process where he will no longer have a free pass and be held accountable at every corner of the road with the same scrutiny as the other candidates. In response to his change mantra we need a media and public asking "where's the beef?" We need judgment on his honesty or lack thereof, his knowledge of pressing issues or lack thereof, and how this most liberal/left voter in our Senate can bring America together beyond vote-getting feel-good words and the appearance of... sincerity.

"No, what we need is an inspirational media instead of the mainly leftie deadbeat masochists that we have at the moment and unless Obama pleases the Left he will suddenly be uninspirational."

There is an awful lot to that.

[Laban Tall]

"sincere and genuinely inspirational ?"

There have been, and are still, great, electrifying speakers out there.

George Galloway. Ian Paisley. The late Enoch Powell. Even Viscount Stansgate and Tommy Sheridan on a good day.

Whether you enjoy their politics is a completely different question.

[Dr John Crippen]

Tony Blair is a truly inspirational speaker, if you have never been in a room with him when he is speaking you can have no idea of the charismatic nature of his delivery and style. Even when you detest everything he stands for you get buried in this magical euphoria and would vote for anything. A few minutes after he has left the feeling evaporates and you have no idea how that happened.

++++++

I have never caught him in the flesh, but I accept what you say - which of course proves the point. Once he has gone, you forget what it was all about.

I agree with Laban Tall that Galloway, Paisley, and Powell were captivating speakers. The "rivers of blood" speech was very effective indeed. Of course, a politician can be captivating about policies which are unacceptable - demagogues such as Hitler being a classic example.

Tony Benn is the greatest speaker I have ever heard in the flesh. Brilliant. Sadly, so much of what he says is unsustainable.

But I look at the H of C at present, and both front benches, and I cannot think of a single senior MP who fires me up in terms of genuine belief. Not one. None of them dare speak until they have consulted the whips about the current focus driven party line. Where are the men and women of real principle?

John

[David Boothroyd]

Tony Blair absolutely and honestly believed the liberation of Iraq from Baathist tyranny would be a net gain for humanity, and it showed in his speech in Parliament on 18 March. Fat lot of good it did him.

[Patsy Sergeant]

Dontmakemelaugh, I wonder why you think that the media is masochistic? I would have thought that more often than not 'sadistic' is more appropriate to describe the way that the BBC behaves (well various commentators towards interviewees!).

As for Kinnock, I never used to listen to what he said, if I heard his nasal Welsh... I would 'turn off the broadcast', so I never heard his views on the EU. However, if that is the case, it would be entirely in character for him to go to the trough, as soon as he could - with ALL his family - and benefit himself from an organisation he affected to disapprove of!!!

Actually we are back to the Post Office closures, and the Labour MP's who have been pretending to their constituents, that they CARE that a local PO is going to close in their constituency, but actually VOTING WITH the government, in favour of just that happening!! Cynicism and hypocrisy!

[Matt Wright]

I think John Cole was right when he said most politicans are decent people interested in serving their community. I fully appreciate however that most of the public don't believe that. I think many things have changed and there is a complex dynamic between politicians, media and public in which all three sides need to engage positively for the democratic system to work. Politicians have become afraid to say what they really think, the media are under pressure to fill the papers everday with something, the public have become increasingly quick-fix consumerists. A mixture which is not helpful.

[carol42]

I also met John Major, living in his constituency at the time, and I agree he was totally different to his TV personna. He is warm, tactile and a surprisingly good speaker in a small friendly setting and one of the nicest people I ever met, his wife used to be seen regularly in the local shops, can you imagine Cherie doing that! They were both nice unassuming people and very popular in Huntingdon with everyone, no matter what their political persuasion. When he lost the election he received a great many letters saying it was not him but his party. He left with dignity liked if not much respected. Tony Blair ended up maybe still liked a bit but not respected. Gordon is neither liked or respected.

[Mike H]

The politicians we get today are a natural response to the 24x7 media.

When a politicians every word is dissected and picked-over by political commentators and regurgitated by the mass media; when speeches and other public appearances are recorded and made available to all for later use as ammunition, it is no wonder that the 'plain speaking' politician is about as abundant as the dodo.

[Dontmakeme laugh]

"Dontmakemelaugh, I wonder why you think that the media is masochistic? I would have thought that more often than not 'sadistic' is more appropriate to describe the way that the BBC behaves (well various commentators towards interviewees!)".

Well, Patsy my understanding of "masochistic" is self inflicted pain, injury of self destruction in one form or another. The media believes that only bad news sells and much of the news is negative and often against our interests, is deliberately made so and exaggerated because it sells - the consequences to the country are ignored. The reporting and excited, breathless televising of queues outside Northern Rock; not bothering to report any good news from Iraq are examples.

Then there are the masochists from the Left. Many are considered to be intellectuals and seem to have a great dislike of Britain and its past and still consider Britain to be an Imperial colonising power and blot on the world.

Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury is imho an example of the foolish Left and appears to dislike much of what Western civilisation has achieved in rescuing mankind from numbing drudgery and living from hand to mouth, but more about him later (if I have the time). He has been described as a "liability". He certainly is not an inspirational speaker - just a totally confused and confusing mumbler.

The BBC imho has a foot in both camps.
Sadists inflict and enjoy injuring others so you have a point.