Scene – Act Ratios: Obama at Invesco

In A Grammar of Motives the late poet and rhetorical scholar Kenneth Burke wrote, “there is implicit in the quality of a scene the quality of the action that is to take place within it. This would be another way of saying that the act will be consistent with the scene.” The scene speaks, just as the speech does.

An example of the scene “speaking” the speech is President Bush’s address to the nation after 9/11. The New York Times Magazine reported that aides considered three venues for the address: the Army War College, the Oval Office and the House of Representatives. Each location would convey a different message, regardless of what was said. In the end they chose Congress which demonstrated a united country coming together (rather than being on war footing or the sole burden falling to one man alone).

Which brings us to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and his speech tonight at Invesco Field – Mile High Stadium – in Denver. As reported in The Note and elsewhere, there is a potential disconnect between the location – the scene – and the message that Obama wants to convey – the act. An outdoor stadium with 70,000+ screaming fans, with a stage of Greek columns and a backdrop of the Rockies says “Massive Event.” The scene, like the Lincoln Memorial 45 years ago today, says “Historic.” The rhetoric must be soaring, the act must match the scene, the scene “contains the act” (Burke). If it does not the speech doesn’t work, it sends mixed messages and fails.

But here’s the tricky bit – Obama is trying to connect with regular voters in non-soaring ways. If pundits like George Will, and Ruth Marcus right, Obama needs, as Marcus put it, “to seem more familiar and approachable to voters, yes, but he also needs to convey -- to use President Clinton's famous phrasing -- that he feels their pain.” Unfortunately that act does not fit the chosen scene. It’s hard to demonstrate a personal connection in a football stadium. Anything done on a 50-yard line is a show, not a conversation. Obama needs to have a conversation with the American people. He needs a different scene like a kitchen table (he can use one of McCain’s – the man can’t use all of them once).

It’s way too late for this to happen, but one option that does what Obama needs to do, while also letting Obama do what he does best (and what his supporters need him to do), would be to accept the nomination in someone’s home, or in an abandoned factory. Have a very, very small gathering – a couple dozen people standing around someplace that demonstrates that things are tough but that people want the chance to succeed again. Then, with these folks, ride a charter bus to Invesco and give the soaring speech of his life. The scenes and acts would align, and the rhetoric would work.