Rick Santorum…Why is it so hard to like him?

Today we review Rick Santorum in light of the Ex. 18:21 four-part test for a leader (see earlier blog “What are we looking for in a President”).

First, your collective Facebook scores:

Able = 1.5 out of 3

Fear God = 2.5 out of 3

Honesty = 2.5 out of 3

Principles over Politics =  2.4 out of 3

So far, he has the highest rankings with regard to “Honesty,” “Principles over Politics,” and “ability;” while he is a close 2^nd to Bachmann in the “Fear God…worldview” category. If the “ability” category were only on his ability to do the job and not also on his ability to get elected, he would have doubled his score there.

The bottom line is that Rick Santorum has a stellar conservative record on virtually every issue. In fact, I am unable to name an issue off the top of my head on which I disagree with the man. Not only does he have the right convictions, he has a proven track record of being very effective at leading major conservative victories in Washington, D.C. (welfare reform, partial birth abortion ban, etc.). I would personally give him a 3 out 3 with regard to fearing God (Biblical Worldview), honesty, and principles over politics.

I suspect there will be no “scandals” to find in his past, no divorces or adultery, no flip-flopping on issues, and no debate gaffes that make him look incompetent or give the impression of a lack of depth. He has a beautiful family, seven homeschooled kids, and an obviously strong faith.

So why have I not endorsed him and why has he hovered around only 1% or 2% in the polling even as all other conservative candidates have risen and then crashed in the polls? Even now, he is only at 3% nationally despite the fact that conservatives have run out of other choices. Yes, he is finally in double digits in Iowa and he just may pull off a top three surprising finish there. But why did he not surge until ALL other candidates had crashed? Why is he a last resort instead of the candidate that excited conservatives from the beginning or at least somewhere in the middle as other conservatives disappointed?

The answer is simple and my opinion is blunt:  Santorum’s obnoxious communication style makes it very hard to “like” him. That may sound trite to you, but let me ask you a few questions.

When you watched the debates and Santorum answered a question, even when the content of the answer was the position you agreed with and he articulated it coherently and succinctly, did you find yourself cheering with excitement that a candidate said what you believed, or did you almost have to force yourself to begrudgingly agree with him and give him some points for the right answer?

When Santorum pointed out victories in his track record, were you impressed and excited or did you feel like he was bragging? Did you feel like he was actually complaining and whining that he was having to inform you of this information and that he was offended you were not already supporting him, as if you were a moron for supporting one of the other conservatives?

Though I wish it were not so, I can tell you with a high level of certainty that the vast majority of people came away with the negative impressions listed above. I’ve been training candidates and business leaders on communication skills for nearly two decades. I’m a student of these things. Like it or not, the way you communicate a message is ten times more of an influence on the listener than the actual words or content of your message.

If someone comes across as being desperate to prove they are the smartest kid in the class, it will not matter that their answer to the question is correct. The other kids in the class will be turned off, rolling their eyes, and avoiding the kid at lunch break. The teacher will begrudgingly say the kid is right, while praying one of the more likable kids would study harder and put the obnoxious kid in his place.

If you’ve seen “The Social Network” and the way Mark Zuckerburg was portrayed, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. Yes, he is apparently brilliant and we are all benefitting from his genius, but the inventor of 21^st Century “friendship” ends up with very few friends at the end of the movie because of the way he communicates. I have no idea if Zuckerburg is that way in real life. I only know that is how he was portrayed in the movie. But that is exactly how campaigns work as well! Regardless of how humble and nice Santorum may be in real life, if he comes across as arrogant and self-righteous on television, that is how people will view him.

Think Al Gore versus George Bush. Gore absolutely should have won that election if you analyzed it on paper or if you simply read the transcripts of the debates. But even if people agreed with Gore, they did not like him any more than the know it all back in High School. His sighing in the debates cost him more votes than any of his positions on the issues.

Rick Santorum is the Al Gore of the republican candidates when it comes to communication style.

The presidential election cannot be won by someone who is incapable of communicating in both an appealing and an effective way. While Santorum is good at articulating his position in terms of debating for points, he is not very good at doing it in a way that wins votes from a large audience. He comes across as self-righteous and whiney and almost always seems to be saying “why can’t you people figure out that I’m the guy you should be supporting!” So even though he has some very good answers, you almost begrudgingly give it to him rather than cheering him on like when Newt nails an answer or when Perry just gets through an answer without stumbling.

Let’s face it, regardless of the content of the message, Obama communicates in an appealing and effective way and our candidate must be able to do the same.

Does that mean Santorum is doomed and I am unwilling to support him? Absolutely not! There is a chance that he could be the last conservative standing and end up with the nomination simply because all other candidates have been ruled out due to baggage, gaffes, and lack of experience. If that happens, I will support him with gusto in the general election.

BUT HE WILL NOT WIN IN NOVEMBER unless he gets a very good communications coach and works extremely hard at improving his style. This absolutely CAN be done. It’s a question of whether Santorum is willing to do it and whether his advisors recognize the need for it to be done. Some of the improvements would be little things like not shaking his head in the “no” back and forth direction all the time when the content of his words are a positive “yes” statement. This sends an unconscious message of in congruency as if he either does not believe what he is saying or that he is mad at the listener for not comprehending it the first 1,000 times he said it. Other improvements have to do with his tonality, his hand gestures, his facial expressions, etc.

Part of the reason Ronald Reagan was such a great communicator is that as a trained actor, he understood that his facial expressions, body posture, and voice inflection were 90% of the message and he spent years perfecting them before he was on the national stage.

Santorum does not have years to improve these things. That is why I do not yet support him. I’d love for him to be appointed Attorney General and have four or eight years to improve his delivery and then run for president in the future. But I fear that if he gets the nomination and does not dramatically improve his communication skills, we will lose the election simply because of style even though we had the substance to win!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Comments