Letters to the Editor
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voice choice
I wouldn't say that Obama's baritone is of any particular advantage. The voice disparity that has come up here is pretty simple stuff and it's called pleasantness.
Unfortunately, Hillary Clinton's voice is simply so unpleasant that anyone, male or female, with a more pleasant voice would sound downright musical.
I am offended at the idea that her voice is a hindrance because it's female but not in a girly or sexy way. How ridiculous. Don't readers remember teachers they could listen to all day, teachers who had delightful, powerful voices that exuded enthusiasm, warmth and authority? And remember the ones you couldn't wait to get away from, the ones that sounded tired, flat, anxious, intimidating? Not to mention that in my career, which has involved numerous team presentations, there will always women who could enchant a room.
I've been posting for a year that Hillary desperately needed voice coaching (and a wardrobe makeover, but I won't get intot that). But don't give us this Obama's marvelous baritone or people don't want to listen to their mother/nagging wife routine. I can remember a couple of males who managed to become presidents who I literally could not stand to listen to. Gerald Ford's sleepy flatness and Jimmy Carter's dead blandness come to mind.
I'm thrilled by Obama, but I'd be thrilled if I'd never seen or heard him but only read this books. That's the real power.