ABC's George Stephanopoulos said Barack Obama did--not on substance, but because throughout he stayed "cool."
Actually the source above was being far too kind. I watched Stephanopoulos' "analysis" last night on "Nightline." And the main difference he spied between the two candidates at last night's debate was that, occasionally, when Obama was speaking and McCain disagreed with what he was saying, McCain rolled his eyes and looked a tiny bit exasperated.
That's right--in the eyes of former Clinton aide Stephanopoulos, that was the difference in the debate.
Now think about this. What's so bad about rolling your eyes? How does that disqualify you to be president? Let's see. If you're in the Oval Office, and an aide or a head of a department or a cabinet secretary says something rather stupid to you, are you to show no signs of irritation? Must you sit there like a sphinx? Since when did that become a requirement to be president?
If someone says something truly silly to you, and you're genuinely angry about it, and all you do is roll your eyes--that's actually very good self-control.
Sheesh. Once again, media "analysis" of these things is driven by style, by looks, by the surface appearance of things, not by real substance and real issues. But then, we all know that Stephanopoulos and most members of the mainstream news media want Obama, they desire him to win, and the only question was on what basis, silly or no, they would claim his victory last night. Eye-rolling is what they found. Many ordinary folks will accept that. It's the world we live in.
But we don't have to like it.
Showing posts with label debate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label debate. Show all posts
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
McCain/Obama debate #2
So some are saying last night's debate was "boring", it was a draw, therefore it helps Obama, or at the least it's not a "game-changer" so that helps Obama, etc.
Gee. I dunno. I thought Senator McCain did a good job of drawing contrasts and, for the most part, drawing them in a conservative direction, from Senator Obama. McCain drew distinctions with Obama on taxes, spending, the candidates' health care policies, and in foreign policy; and he made them pretty clear. In fact, I thought a time or two Obama sounded slightly annoyed at the facts McCain pointed out.
It's true there was no huge "gotcha" moment, or any point that greatly stood out, during the debate. But McCain's a bit behind now. As we all know, if your team is behind in a game, you can't come back all at once. Instead, it's a process. There's nearly a month left in this campaign. There's another debate. I suspect McCain may have begun the process of coming back last night. The same kind of thing happened in 2004. George W. Bush didn't do that well in debate 1 in '04. But he did better in the next two, and I think that all began to pile up in his favor.
But it's a process, and it takes awhile. Here's an idea for the McCain folks: Obama committed a big howler last night. He claimed, in his budget plans, that he's "cutting more than he's spending." Huh??? He has a bundle of new programs and initiatives he wants to push; he hasn't talked much about cuts. No one's denied that his plans add up easily to a cost of over $500 billion (McCain says it's more like $800 billion). No way is his claim true. Indeed, the local news which came on in my area right after the debate immediately identified that Obama claim as one with lots of problems (a "stretch", as they put it). So McCain and co. should pound away on this day after day, and point to how it's yet another reason that Obama can't be trusted, as another reason that Obama is too inexperienced to be entrusted with the presidency.
Who else agrees with me that McCain did well?
Well--some on a college debate team in Indiana agree.
Naturally, many members of the media, who want Obama to win, and want the dominant narrative right now to be that of Obama leading, connecting with voters, and McCain failing to change this, see the debate differently.
But I'm heartened that Rich Lowry largely agrees with my take, too, over at NRO.
Gee. I dunno. I thought Senator McCain did a good job of drawing contrasts and, for the most part, drawing them in a conservative direction, from Senator Obama. McCain drew distinctions with Obama on taxes, spending, the candidates' health care policies, and in foreign policy; and he made them pretty clear. In fact, I thought a time or two Obama sounded slightly annoyed at the facts McCain pointed out.
It's true there was no huge "gotcha" moment, or any point that greatly stood out, during the debate. But McCain's a bit behind now. As we all know, if your team is behind in a game, you can't come back all at once. Instead, it's a process. There's nearly a month left in this campaign. There's another debate. I suspect McCain may have begun the process of coming back last night. The same kind of thing happened in 2004. George W. Bush didn't do that well in debate 1 in '04. But he did better in the next two, and I think that all began to pile up in his favor.
But it's a process, and it takes awhile. Here's an idea for the McCain folks: Obama committed a big howler last night. He claimed, in his budget plans, that he's "cutting more than he's spending." Huh??? He has a bundle of new programs and initiatives he wants to push; he hasn't talked much about cuts. No one's denied that his plans add up easily to a cost of over $500 billion (McCain says it's more like $800 billion). No way is his claim true. Indeed, the local news which came on in my area right after the debate immediately identified that Obama claim as one with lots of problems (a "stretch", as they put it). So McCain and co. should pound away on this day after day, and point to how it's yet another reason that Obama can't be trusted, as another reason that Obama is too inexperienced to be entrusted with the presidency.
Who else agrees with me that McCain did well?
Well--some on a college debate team in Indiana agree.
Naturally, many members of the media, who want Obama to win, and want the dominant narrative right now to be that of Obama leading, connecting with voters, and McCain failing to change this, see the debate differently.
But I'm heartened that Rich Lowry largely agrees with my take, too, over at NRO.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Last night's debate
Honestly, I expected McCain to come in a bit tired, a bit off his game, given the events of last week, his push first to not debate and suspend his campaign, then resume and debate; the tiring work of negotiating with Republicans and Democrats in Washington over the bailout.
But he surprised me--I thought he was on his game, had good specificity in what he said, told some good stories that connected with the points he was making...and of course it helps that I agreed with him on many of the foreign policy issues up for discussion. He had a strategy, stressing that Senator Obama "doesn't understand", several times, and he executed it.
That said, I still think it was more or less a draw; Senator Obama is a good debater, too, and is learned on several issues. Which will make the debates coming up even more important.
But he surprised me--I thought he was on his game, had good specificity in what he said, told some good stories that connected with the points he was making...and of course it helps that I agreed with him on many of the foreign policy issues up for discussion. He had a strategy, stressing that Senator Obama "doesn't understand", several times, and he executed it.
That said, I still think it was more or less a draw; Senator Obama is a good debater, too, and is learned on several issues. Which will make the debates coming up even more important.
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