Okay, a day has passed, and I've been looking for some comments on TV, but while it got some coverage, I think too much of the television media missed that the young man reciting from John F. Kenney's Inaugural Address in the Celebrating America television special was Brayden Harrington. He's the same fellow who was featured during the Democratic National Convention after Joe Biden (who grew up as a stutterer) had met him on the campaign trail, stayed in touch and helped him with the boy's serious stutter. Perhaps the media who missed it did so because they didn't recognize his name and because he was flawless now. An impressive testament to his work in such a short time, and to Joe BIden's stepping in during his presidential campaign to help.
Just as a reminder, this is some of the background on the story and how it all began. To add to it, though, is that when they met at a primary campaign event, it was in February, 2020. That means between then -- when the deeply-shy boy was having a challenging time to talk to Biden at all -- and now, when speaking to the nation on the Celebrating America special was less than a year ago. Though the above clip had snippets, this is his full appearance at the Democratic Convention, which is what brought so much deserved attention. And this is his appearance on Inaugural night in the Celebrating America TV special which was pretty much overlooked by the TV media. As I said, it was probably because they didn't remember his name -- and because, watching him in such a short period of time -- it is near impossible to recognize him as the kid who a year earlier, before meeting Joe Biden, had a debilitating stutter. Now, for the second time speaking on national television under perhaps the highest profile and spotlight one can imagine -- the nomination and then Inauguration of the President of the United States. That's courageous for anyone, let alone a kid, whoever they are. Quite a kid. And less than a year from when he met and Joe Biden met. One last thing: although the TV media may have overlooked this, the viewing public didn't. I posted the video of his Inauguration speech that night. How moved were people by all this? Usually, a really popular tweet of mine will eventually get maybe 30-50 "Likes. In just 20 minutes, this one got over 1,000! And kept soaring, almost geometrically. Within the next 25 minutes, it hit 4,000. It is now, the next day, at 17,000. With the numbers still skyrocketing. And almost all the 436 who thus far have taken the time to comment said they had recognized him and were enthralled. Or said, "I recognized him -- and began sobbing." The very few who didn't realize who it was said they were amazed it was the same kid.
2 Comments
Douglass Abramson
1/22/2021 03:02:55 pm
Not only flawless, but he was given the longest segment of a speech to recite. As someone who had a stutter and a stammer bad enough to get speech therapy in elementary school, and have always had a slight residual pop up now and then; I was deeply impressed with the kid's performance and his poise on camera. Something else that the media doesn't seem to have caught about that segment is that all of the people chosen to recite those segments of inaugural addresses were trailblazers and barrier breakers. A pro-civil rights and equality subtext that I thought even the House Republicans would understand.
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Robert Elisberg
1/23/2021 01:32:24 pm
All very true.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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