What Every Lawyer Should Learn From President Obamas August 8 Speech

Developing the Next Generation of Rainmakers What Every Lawyer Should Learn From President Obama’s August 8 Speech I was 13 years old. I watched the Nixon-Kennedy debate. Like many who watched the debate, rather than listened on the radio, I thought Kennedy had clearly won. I believe that was the first time I focused on how well a political speaker communicated a vision. Later I studied President Reagan and President Clinton. I was far less interested in their politcal views and far more interested in how well they connected with the people. I even made video tapes of the debates between President Clinton and Senator Dole. In 2008, I recorded a Democratic debate because I wanted to study how candidate Obama connected with the audience. Like many of my friends, I greatly admired President Obama’s speech in Tucson earlier this year. I thought the speech was inspiring and an effort to bring Americans together. Yesterday was a different story. Did you watch or see clips from President Obama’s speech? You likely know that the Dow Jones average went down an additional 200 points after the speech. i listened to it and later saw clips from it. I confess. I wished for the sake of my 401K that President Obama had asked President Clinton to speak in his place. When Washington Post opinion writers, liberal  Dana Milbank and conservative  Charles Krauthammer both slam a speech, you have to conclude that President Obama was not at the top of his game yesterday. Milbank wrote The most powerful man on Earth? and Krauthammer blasted Obama as ‘weak, plaintive and small’. What can you learn about practicing law and client relationships from the speech? Read Dana Milbank’s column and here are some conclusions I think you will reach: I practiced law for 37 years developing a national construction law practice representing some of the top highway and transportation construction contractors in the US.