Recently I came across a campaign speech for the presidency. The candidate chose to make one of his first speeches in Kansas. His theme was about how we should do things better. The candida spoke of hungry children, of those on reservations with 80% unable to find work, of poverty, locks on doors and riots in American streets.
He did not win the election, so we will never know whether he might have corrected the problems he had addressed, for Robert Kennedy was assassinated before the election.
His brother Ted eulogized him with these words: My brother need not be eulogized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life: to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.
Certain speeches remain familiar. For example, Franklin D. Roosevelt's during the depression spoke these words: " All we have to fear is fear itself." In also, John F. Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country." George W. Bush after 9/11 declared: "We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail." Barack Obama, even before the election, declared "Yes we can," and Eisenhower warned, "The potential for misplaced power exists and will persist". Donald Trump declared, "The golden age of America begins right now."
Do campaign speeches matter? Sometimes. However, other factors determine success, such as legislative achievements, public opinion, use of the media, and whether what a candidate says in campaigning aligns in his actions in office later. Would he have fed the children, found jobs for everyone, erased poverty, poverty, riots, and the need for locked doors?
You may be surprised to learn that Political Research shows that presidents fulfil an average of 2/3rds of their campaign promises. Whether that is good or bad is left to you.
