Presidential Debate #2: Initial Thoughts
I’m a little behind, but just finished watching tonight’s debate on TiVo. I think you’ve got to score this one as a win for Senator Obama. Not a blowout by any stretch of the imagination, but still a win. His demeanor was calm, and while not particularly charismatic, he didn’t come across as unlikable or too professorial, I don’t think. Senator McCain, on the other hand, seemed antsy, and at times a little crabby. And on TV, he just looked old — that shouldn’t be an issue (at least, it wouldn’t be as big an issue if not for his VP pick), but it is one. Further, I did catch a little of the debate on the radio while I was out running an errand, and McCain managed to come across worse on radio than on TV.
On substance, this is going to sound contradictory, but bear with me. Obama was more substantive, but didn’t always answer the question that was being asked of him. McCain was more likely to answer the question, but he almost always did so in vague terms. (Saying “I know how to do this” may be reassuring to people who already support you, but shoring up your base isn’t going to help you very much at this juncture.) Contrast this against the VP debate, where Biden was generally both substantive and on point, whereas Palin was generally off-topic and vague.
Finally, I think McCain overused the “my friends” bit, and I think it wore a little thin. I wonder if I’m alone in this regard.
McCain needed a game-changer here, and he didn’t get it. Because of that, a tie here equals a win for Obama. But as I said above, I think Obama won outright, even if not overwhelmingly. That can’t be good news for the McCain camp.
But none of that, I think is the big story. The big story is the town hall format. It’s one of those things that looks like a good idea on paper, but never really works. One of the biggest problems was that there simply wasn’t enough time for the candidates to really address the questions in any kind of detail — they had to get in a few talking points, and then they were already over their time and had to move on. (I suspect this is a problem with the format — they went for quantity of questions rather than quality of answers.) But I think the biggest problem here was Brokaw. As a moderator, he was terrible. He seemed hostile to both candidates, and was just too in love with the rules. Here’s a hint, Tom: When both candidates are having a substantive discussion about an important issue, and both of them want to continue, FUCK THE RULES — let them continue to discuss. I don’t care what both campaigns pre-agreed to; both candidates — present there, right in front of you — clearly wanted to keep talking about it, and they hadn’t gotten repetitive or overly personal. Health care and mandates, I think, was a premier example of this. Both candidates had interesting things to say, even if you didn’t agree with them, and the discourse was well above the level of basic mudslinging and repeated talking points — and Brokaw cut them off. That’s inexcusable.
OK, enough of my ranting. Give me your thoughts.
(Cross-posted at Lean Left, but adding one more thought here for Glen: I bet you cringed when McCain brought up his “let’s buy and renegotiate all the bad mortgages” idea. Is McCain trying to out-liberal the liberal or what?)
Nice post. I actually didn’t see it, believe it or not. However, McCain says a lot of things that make me want to puke. This election is a choice between Democrat (Obama) and Democrat lite (McCain). Another nose holder for me.
“let’s buy and renegotiate all the bad mortgages” - McCain
Yea, whats another $300 Billion to add to the $700 billion bailout? … might as well make it a trillion.
That’s the voice of a desperate man, saying anything for a vote.
As James P. Pinkerton
Writer and Columnist, The American Conservative magazine/FOX News Political Contributor said…
This was McCain’s last chance. He can now look forward to a long rest. It’s over.
Obama/McCain win, America lost.
McCain RulZZZ!!!!
Go McCain!
Obama is an Arab leftist terrorist.
Obama once again won by a small to moderate margin. This is worse still for McCain because he *needs* to win, while simply maintaining momentum for Obama further secures a victory.
Although like you touched on, this is the first time that McCain actually became unnappealing to me. I left the debate not liking the guy too much. His comment to the african-american male about, “I bet you didn’t know what Fannie or Freddie were before this election” was a total turn-off, as spotlighted on news programs. He would randomly get up and sit down, and did appear old and flustered.
Age is sadly a factor in this election as in reality, if you’re too old and uncollected to maintain the candor and poise of a interaction with other political figures, that’s a problem.
It’s ashamed there’s only 2 candidates but this one will have to go to Obama. I don’t think there’s much doubt that he’s managing the debate much better than John McCain is.
1 debate left, it would have to be a blowout victor for the Repubs if they want a fighting chance in the debate-arena.
McCain deffinately overused the my friends bit and it was driving me crazy. He also came across to me as just downright mean at times. If Obama doesnt make any major mistakes he will win this election no question. Not a lot of people want another republican in office and McCain hasnt said or done enough to persuade voters otherwise.
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