When judging politicians, so much importance is placed on public speaking skills for various reasons. To begin with, politicians are public figures, and this means that whenever they speak, they usually address large numbers of people. To appeal to such huge numbers, they must have good public speaking skills. Good public speaking skills assist politicians in improving their relationships with the electorate. This is as a result of remarkable improvement in their interpersonal skills.
Politics is different from other professions because it requires politicians to interact with their electorate and build close relationships. Relationships cannot be established without good public speaking skills, and that is why the concept is put into consideration when judging politicians.
The other reason why good public speaking skills are focused on when judging politicians is because they are supposed to represent their people in different capacities. As a result, they are supposed to have good public speaking skills to persuade and communicate the needs of their people in different forums. A politician who lacks good communication skills may represent his/her people poorly due to a lack of convincing power. For example, politicians who have good public speaking skills find it easy to convince stakeholders and different sponsors to initiate projects that benefit their people.
There are various implications that are associated with the importance attached to good public speaking skills among politicians. For instance, politicians who lack the skills lose popularity among the electorate. In most cases, politicians convince the masses to vote for them by delivering persuasive speeches. Those who fail to persuade their audience through public speaking put their political careers at risk. On the other hand, those who possess good public speaking skills do not face many difficulties in convincing the electorate to vote for them.
Another implication associated with the importance attached to good public speaking skills is that politicians may fail to get prestigious government positions such as ministerial positions and head of parliamentary committees. Most of these positions are given to politicians with good public speaking skills because they can lead meetings and address sensitive issues in the most appropriate manner. It would be difficult for those who lack good public speaking skills to be leaders because they cannot deliver convincing speeches. As a result, they are not elected to head various committees; however much they might be interested in the positions. This implies that possession of good public speaking skills is critical for politicians, and they should try to acquire them.
The emphasis that politicians should have good public speaking skills is beneficial to society in different ways. Firstly, politicians are elected by the members of the society. The implication is that they must have the ability to convince the voters to vote for them. Some of them might have deep knowledge of how to solve societal problems, but due to a lack of good public speaking skills, they might lose the opportunities to get leadership positions (Tubbs 37).
The implication is that society fails to get the right leader because the person lacks good public speaking skills. Secondly, politicians with good public speaking skills are able to speak for their people. For instance, they have the ability to convince government departments to allocate their areas of representation funds for facilitating development projects such as road construction, construction of dams, social amenities, and other infrastructural facilities. Society, therefore, benefits from resources that come as a result of the good public speaking skills of their politicians. Those who are represented by politicians without good public speaking skills do not enjoy such benefits.
Works Cited
Tubbs, Stewart. Human communication: Principles and contexts, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.