Murphy's letter from Edinburgh

 

The power of  speech

I sat and watched the George W Bush inauguration speech on television right through because I have an keen interest in local and world politics.  I didn't know what to expect until it was broadcast.

From time to time in history there are speakers who's speeches are powerful, and they have meaning.  George W Bush's speech was such a speech.  It was a speech that had vision, hope and foresight for a world that must come together for the future.

I have not heard a speaker like this for a long time, and I would compare the power of his speech  to that of Winston Churchill, John F Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Enoch Powell and even John Prescott when he's allowed to speak.  Although I will state, all in different circumstances

Adolf Hitler was a powerful speaker too, it was just a pity that he was totally off his rocker and he decided to try and rule Europe when he invaded Poland.  In his speeches he captured the minds of the German people with the power of speech as an powerful orator.  It was unfortunate that his intentions were so evil.

During the 1990's I took video footage of John Prescott, Gordon Brown and George Robertson at the miners gala's in Edinburgh when they attended events like that.  And if you were to ask me who appeared to be the most understanding and most powerful speaker of the time, I would have to say that John Prescott was.  But he won't go down in history on the world stage like some of the speakers I have mentioned.

George W Bush's speech had vision, it had hope and it set out a plan for the future. There's no doubt that the political pundits will pick bits out of the speech and they will all give different version of what they heard and what they didn't, whereas I took the full speech and listened to it in the context it was given.

We in the West have had democratic leadership for a long time, whereas many other countries in the world have lived under tyrants and dictators, and continue to do so. We take our democracies for granted and tend to ignore the parts of the world where people are dictated to.  George W Bush focused on these countries and change may well be on the way.  It will take time, but the challenge has been made, which is a start to giving hope to the oppressed people of the world.

A lot work will have to be done with the other leaders of the world, and it will take time. But with George W Bush's speech, I saw a man of vision, and a president who put over his vision in a very clear way.

Where have all the great orators and men of vision gone?  Or is it a case of that they only come along once in a while?

The speech that George W Bush made on the 20 January 2005, will go down as one of the finest that have heard for a long time.  This was a speech of its time like that of Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King - both men of their time.

This speech was an historical speech of its time.  And one that I believe will be remembered and quoted many times in the future, like that of the men of vision that we had in the past.

Written by Andrew Murphy 20 January 2005

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