Ezra Klein touched on this the other night in a Tweet:
Eventually a president is going to show a graph in a speech and then they all will. someone just needs to go first.
He tweeted this right after the president's speech and I couldn't agree with him more. The old saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" should be adapted as part of every speech given by a politician.
People will retain/learn information better when it is received accompanied by visual aides. I don't think I've seen a sales presentation that did not include charts, graphs, etc., that only included the written word or spoken word in 40 years. Why then, are presidents not using this valuable tool when they are speaking from the "bully pulpit" and have a captive audience....for at least 5 minutes.
For example, how much more effective would the president's speech have been if he had illustrated the chart that shows the production/income graph for the past 10 years? I think if the majority of voters saw that graph - it would have made a tremendous difference.
Another reason why charts and graphs would be so valuable.....they can be verified very easily. The politician who basically lies off the top of their head would have a much more difficult time doing this if he needed a chart/graph to back up his lie.
So.....Mr. President....if you are taking the time to make your case about something you need to clarify/amplify your points so that everyone at least understands what your point is.