Presentation Gets High Marks From Pols & Speaking Coaches
BY CORKY SIEMASZKO NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Wednesday, January 28, 1998, 12:00 AM
President Clinton gave few hints that he was mired in the middle of a sex scandal as he delivered a strong State of the Union address, speech experts and political consultants said last night. “The guy knows his role and reads his script with great style,” marveled Arnold Zenker, a Boston-based public appearance consultant. “He’s clearly confident, there’s no doubt about that,” said Barbara Laskin, a Manhattan speech consultant. Dick Morris, the architect of Clinton’s successful reelection campaign who was himself brought down by a sex scandal, gave his former boss an “A.”
“Any American watching that speech tonight just has to say that this is a President totally at the top of his game,” Morris said. “Ten minutes into the speech, everybody forgot about the scandal.” But some experts said Clinton appeared nervous, almost tentative, as he approached the lectern and that he hurried through his opening remarks. “His pace was very fast,” Laskin said. “It was almost like he was trying to get it over with.” Sue Castorino, a Chicago speech consultant whose clients include Bulls star Scottie Pippen, said it took Clinton “a long time to build up steam.” “I thought he looked and sounded tired in the beginning,” Castorino said. “But anybody waiting for him to slip up was disappointed.” Mary Ellen Drummond, a speech coach in Santa Fe, N.
M., who works with politicians, said Clinton was clearly nervous. “He had dry mouth, which is a sign of nervousness,” Drummond said. Louie Modling of Benchmark Communications in Houston said Clinton bought himself some time “with a powerful speech.” “It will give him a temporary ebb in the battle he’s fighting,” Modling said. Manhattan body-language expert Gerard Nierenberg said Clinton delivered “an extremely well-put-together speech, better than I’ve ever seen him do any of these before.”
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