Bill Clinton on Stump, State, and Stage

📖 The Scoop

These lively and penetrating essays by outstanding scholars of political communication examine President Clinton's rhetorical work before he took the oath of office, presenting a unique perspective on the words and texts that brought him to the presidency and the dynamics of political media throughout the campaign. In these original, valuable, and deeply insightful interpretations, the success of Clinton as a public persuader and compelling orator is analyzed, as is the whole process of political communication in America at the end of the twentieth century. Not all voices and the views they express are sympathetic. We do learn, however, how Clinton's superiority as a campaigner, the qualities of youth, energy, and hard work he projected, and his broad knowledge and clear articulation of the issues undoubtedly underpinned his victorious bid for the White House. "The man from Hope" who held up a beacon to "the forgotten middle class" exhibited throughout the presidential race an ability to focus and translate issues of national importance into clear and highly personalized anecdotes, turning around attacks on his personal life time and time again. The Comeback Kid's talent for political compromise and resolution and his mastery of rhetorical invention and media logic are thoroughly examined in these highly readable essays.

Genre: Political Science / General (fancy, right?)