In these uncertain political times we are all prey to the persuasive rhetoric of possible presidents, supreme courts, all politicians, the media, and anyone else with a voice. The rhetoric seems more insultingly manipulative since the Florida vote was certified with George W. Bush leading by 537 votes. The speeches of Bush and Gore in the next weeks will only be understood adequately in the contexts of their unspoken but driving wishes, of the latest supreme or circuit court decisions, of the most recent news, of the Gallop polls, and of the speaker's audience-specifically of the audience's eagerness or resistance to believing what they hear. My most memorable and literate introduction to the politics of the spoken word occurred in a graduate seminar on Hamlet at Wayne State University.
Every word spoken here counts.
They have made their decision and by marrying joy and grief have united the state in their union. Claudius wants to believe his speech and the audience wants to believe that he has their interests at heart and that peace and protection of the state will be uninterrupted. We reflect on these words as we do on today's political speeches because what people want to believe may or may not have any relation to what is true, if the truth is indeed knowable. With this affair along. For all, our thanks.