Are Michelle Obama and Ann Romney for real?

I didn’t watch Ann’s speech, but I did watch Michelle’s and I thought she did a hell of a job. But I also thought she was a hell of an actress. And why not? Surely they receive a lot of training in how to deliver these speeches? They rehearse the applause lines. They know how to wait before going on. They know how to make eye contact with the audience. How to smile and look confident. They even know how to bring a tear to their eyes at moments of great pathos.

So that could all be real. But it could also be enhanced with presentation skills and practice. And if it is enhanced; if there is artifice to it, does that bother you at all? Do you notice it? Does it take away from the message? Or is that just condition normal for politics these days?

Personally, I think they are all so good, you can’t tell if they are real or not. I do a bit of performing, myself, and I know how to bring a tear to people’s eyes, or how to time a punch line. I know how not to be over the top so I don’t seem too practiced. I know how to roll with a mistake and how that humanizes me.

Am I being too cynical in seeing performance written all over this speech? Or is this just the way it is? Or are they really for real. Natural? No artifice?

And no matter what you think, does it even matter?