uhs & duhs & sesquipedalianism

Memo to Petraeus & Crocker: More Laughs, Please - Dick Cavett - Opinion - New York Times Blog -- Dick Cavett delivers a gentle and entertaining lampooning of our more serious public servants; the question is, how do they go to Toastmasters or Dale Carnegie at this point in their careers? The other question is, how did they get this far without it? I guess that the triple competency of "move, shoot, and communicate" does not extend any further than the field of combat these days.

Back during "the conflict," I was a member of the Communicative Arts Subcommittee of the Leadership Department of the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. My main focus was with the infantry officers' advanced course, and their writing, listening, and speaking capabilities. We of the subcommittee were not popular around the campus, or at the club, but that was nearly 40 years ago, before Petraeus began his career; our "charm school" for middle management might have done him some good.