From The New York Times, "Live from Miami, a style showdown":

What Mr. Kerry should do, she [Susan Batson, a longtime acting coach] explained, is open himself up. If he tries to be like the resolute Mr. Bush, he'll fall into his old trap: woodenness.

His greatest opportunity, she said, is to laugh more, to radiate a vulnerability with his eyes, a sense of compassion and wisdom, as opposed to single-mindedness and aggression. He can be "sort of a combination of Henry Fonda and James Stewart," she said.

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Equally important to Mr. Kerry, she [Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania] said, is to refrain from using words like "gilded" and "panoply" at the lectern, as he has on the stump.

"Words found on the SAT verbal exam," she added, "should not appear in candidate's speeches."

Goddamn it — who the bloody hell are these people — and why does anyone pay any heed to this kind of inane, so-called "advice"? A political leader needs fore-mostly to be able to change and shape public opinion, i.e., to lead; those who can't, but instead pander to the public with a total lack of judgement and intelligence, are not fit to govern. Which is depressing, since on this regard Bush and the Republicans have been doing such a better job.