Giuliani vs. Powell: Colin Wins

Went to a day-long series of speakers at Rupp Arena here in Lexington called "Get Motivated." The two diametrically opposed speakers in terms of offering the most useful speech, were Giuliani and Powell.

Rudy Giuliani, I expected much more from you. 75% of his speech was all Rudy, all the time - "I'm great and I did this, this, this ... "; 20% was talking about heroism and wonderful things; 5% was actual advice, actionable thoughts and wisdom.

Rudy used the word "I" so many times as to be annoying. To hear him talk, you'd have thought he was a war hero. He dropped more names than a failed Hollywood agent. Despite a massive sound system, he spoke so loudly as to be annoying at times, apparently in love with the sound of his own voice and thinking everyone came to see him alone.

Colin Powell spoke and, unlike Rudy, he told personal stories, but each had a moral or a point that made you see yourself in greater terms. When he spoke, he used the PA system to its best effect. He spoke in normal, conversational tones and, despite seeing him on twenty-foot-high screens (or half-size on the stage below), you had the feeling he was in regular-sized room with you. At times, he was almost hushed and you felt like you had an audience with a wise sage; very personal, warm and encouraging. The 15,000 people there were rapt and many were leaning forward, elbows on knees.

You know, I really wanted to like Rudy, but gave up when he started talking bad about, among other things, climate change and then Al Gore - that was not the place for that. I came to hear motivation, not criticism or some egotist go for the cheap shot. Rudy's speech was a droning testimony to himself. In short, a blowhard who was anything but motivational.