One Final Point about Bobby Jindal

March 2, 2009 by Jerry

n_jindal_response_090224_300w1 The deluge of opinions–positive and negative, but mostly negative–from the media and political circles to Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s speech on behalf of the Republican Party in response to President Obama’s Address to Congress has been microscopic in its detail, so far be it for me to revisit the same ground. However, there is one final point that has yet to be covered: the reason for Jindal’s much-maligned delivery.

Most critics zeroed in on the governor’s sing-song speaking pattern that made him sound as if he was talking down to his audience. The opinions ran the gamut, ranging from the considerate: Howard Fine, an acting teacher, who commiserated with Jindal for the difficulty of reading someone else’s words, to the caustic: Jon Stewart of The Daily Show, who compared Jindal to Mister Rogers, yesteryear’s kiddie show host, and Jason Linkins of Huffington Post, who compared Jindal to Kenneth The Page from NBC’s 30 Rock. Stewart and Linkins ran side-by-side and back-to-back videos of their comparisons that did indeed have uncanny similarities.

A significant factor contributing to Jindal’s ridiculed vocal pattern was the set-up for the teleprompter. The governor delivered his entire 12-minute speech into a single camera on which the teleprompter apparatus was mounted. Most teleprompter set-ups use two units running on free-standing transparent panels. This arrangement allows the speaker to move back and forth between the panels and address the wide swath of the audience. The movement also provides an opportunity to inject pauses into the cadence and create variety in the voice. Barack Obama moves between teleprompter units masterfully, particularly in the very speech to which Jindal was responding. Of course, such movement can backfire by producing a ping-pong effect. John McCain often struggled in his teleprompter speeches, most notably – and ironically – in a speech in he gave during last year’s presidential campaign in Louisiana.

But Jindal had no audience in the foyer of the Louisiana governor’s mansion, and so he had to (or was coached to) create variety with his vocal inflection. This tactic produced forced emphasis, resembling the way a parent or teacher speaks to a child. Moreover, with no audience and no human feedback, Jindal must have felt as if he was speaking into a hollow void, which caused him to pump even more artificial swings into his voice, exaggerating the sing-song effect.

Not since Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention has there been such a stir about a speech. The big difference was that Palin’s vaulted her into the forefront of the GOP (only after her disastrous interview with Katie Couric and Tina Fey’s devastating impressions did Palin’s star become tarnished); but Jindal’s unfortunate speech may have ended his presidential aspirations.

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