Presidential Rhetoric for Presidents Day

To the Editor: 
Often times it is not what the president says but how he conveys himself that either captivates his audience or turns them off. Who of us can forget the homespun anecdotes we read or listened to from Presidents Lincoln, F. Roosevelt, Truman or Reagan (“The Great Communicator).” We can quote verbatim such lines as, “Four score and seven years ago…” or “We have nothing to fear but…” 
We also witnessed our fair share of gaffes such as, “Read my lips there will be no tax increase…” or “I did not have sex with…” or “Poland was not a prisoner of the Soviet empire.”
Pontificating language also can help in a presentation as when President Washington received a letter from a British emissary addressed to George Washington, Esq. etc., etc. Washington made it abundantly clear that he was President Washington and would not accept a letter from King George III of England. John Adams, who witnessed the above, proclaimed Washington was “one of the great actors of the ages.” When Franklin Roosevelt met the renowned actor Orson Wells he told him, “there are two great American actors and it is a fine thing we have met.”
Humor when appropriately timed has always amused presidential listeners, for instance, when Reagan was seriously wounded by a would-be assassin he remarked to his wife, Nancy, “Sorry honey, I forgot to duck,” and when he was on the operating table he asked the surgeon, “Are you a Democrat or Republican?” Harry Truman’s response to an exuberant fan who yelled “give them hell Harry” to which he hollered back, “I won’t give the Republicans hell, I’ll tell them the truth and they’ll think they’re in hell.”
While all of the rhetorical traits are important in winning votes, there is one quality every potential president should possess in order to be an effective executive and that is decisiveness. President Truman once said of James Madison, “he was like every other man of considerable brain power and education; he found it difficult to make decisions. No matter how wise and good the president may be, it does him no good unless he puts his boots on.”
For the last word, we return to Abe Lincoln who at the end of a disagreement with his cabinet announced, “seven nays, one aye, the ayes have it.” Remember the president is and always shall be the boss!
Happy Presidents Day!