The Man Who Seals Off Emotion

Can Dukakis make the personal connections Americans crave?

As he prepared himself one year ago for the opening speech of his presidential campaign, Michael Dukakis was exasperated. In the Boston video studio, his handlers pushed at him. "Let some feeling out, Michael, please," the speech coach urged. Deliberately, the candidate read on. After a while the coach tried a different approach. "Get mad," she said. "Can't you get mad?" Finally Dukakis had had enough. The voters, he declared, would have to take him as he is. "Look, I'm not Mario," he said defensively, referring to New York's demonstrative Governor Cuomo. "This just isn't me."

Dukakis has learned well how...

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