Should we value eloquence as highly as we do? If it is found in someone who has not achieved something significant, then it is a parlor trick and distraction. If it lies with a truly worthy person, acts alone should do the speaking.
This, however, may be asking too much of people. We have been conditioned and socialized to look up to those who speak words most sonorously. In an ideal world, all who aspire to leadership would speak well, permitting us the opportunity to rest final judgment on the substance of their thoughts.
Today, I am unsure if we even wait to hear how well words bounce off each other. We do little more than spend our attention and put ourselves at the mercy of those who capture it most brazenly. The greatest trick is no longer to speak words that move and convince, it is to grab people by the neck and never let them go.