TOW #6- How to Get Better at Running for President

 In recent months, the United States presidential race has completely taken over the world of news.  Many pin the success of Hillary Clinton on her experience in the field, and Stuart Stevens from the New York Times agrees.  However, his article, "How to Get Better at Running for President", goes a bit further by persuading the audience that successful candidates are the ones that accept their mistakes and show improvement through their career.  Stevens uses similes that connect to his audience of American citizens as well as recent examples of presidential nominees to show the logistics of Stevens' opinion.  Throughout the article, Stevens compares politics to sports by saying  that "Candidates are like sports teams: They are either improving or getting worse... watch your favorite candidate for signs of improvement, and if you don't see it, your'e probably pulling for a loser" (18).  It would be safe to say that most Americans today can connect to some type of sport.  Stevens uses this in his article to make politics, something not many are involved in, seem like something that the audience is familiar with.  This connection helps Stevens point out key elements of his argument.  When he compares candidates to sports teams, it helps Stevens show his audience that politics is always changing, and the "teams" are always either bettering themselves, or getting worse.  He attributes this to the fact that "to be successful, that confidence must be be matched with a realistic self-criticism" (16).  Stevens builds on this idea with the use of an example from Republican Mitt Romney.  He says that Romney "focused on moments he felt he could have done better" (17) making him one of the best candidates for president.  By using this recent presidential nominee as an example, Stevens shows the reality of his argument.  In order to get better at running for president, you need to have experience and try to better yourself.

















http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/18/opinion/sunday/how-to-get-better-at-running-for-president.html