Once again, God help me, I watched the entire debate last night. I don’t quite know why, as it wasn’t that great as spectacle, and it’s not like there was any way it would change my vote…
I wound up being struck by something, though. The last eight years have made me pretty cynical about American politics and the American public. Hell, the last twenty-eight years have made me pretty cynical– I first became politically aware during the Reagan era, after all. I’ve spent most of my life watching sleazy pandering contests– Bill Clinton was a bright spot, and that tells you something.
I was really impressed, though, by the way Obama chose to go directly against the cynical approach last night, and in the other debate I watched (the “town hall” thing was just a smarm-off, and I couldn’t stand it). He sat there and acted like the American people are thinking adults– he gave facts, reported numbers (he evidently has more faith in people’s ability to understand percentages than I do), and even during the shamefully embarrassing “Please talk about your attack ads” portion of the evening, he resisted the “Oh, yeah?!?” responses most partisans were pushing. He projected seriousness and absolute calm.
And I was pleasantly surprised to see that it worked. The early polling says voters preferred Obama by something like 2-1. It’s rare that a moment of political theater makes me feel better about my country, but amazingly, that did.
(Now, granted, part of the margin is undoubtedly due to McCain’s performance, which was erratic and incoherent even by the standards of recent GOP presidential candidates. To paraphrase an old MST3K episode, the secret of Obama’s power lies in the ineptitude of his opponent. But still, it’s a nice change to see someone come out and act as if the American people are something better than a pack of frightened grade-school children.)
I offer you the following totally counter-cynical commentary on the debate: Don’t listen to them: Somebody always wins the debate.
It’s rare that a moment of political theater makes me feel better about my country, but amazingly, that did.
If you were superstitious, you’d also be thinking “I better not think this too hard or it will all start to go terribly wrong!!!”
Chad –
I watched the debate (all four of them actually) and I look for the non-verbal cues: how the candidates say things, how comfortable they seem with what they say and how they talk to the audience. Then I listen to what is being said for an overall picture. Details I can look up. Based on that, I’d say Obama won hands down. McCain came across as angry, scattershot and confused. Obama came across much more focused, even if he was a bit more tentative. He talks TO you, not down to you like McCain does. He believes that you are intelligent enough to understand what he is saying, while McCain either doesn’t or cannot even outline the specifics of his policies.
Obama came across as someone who says we can do this if we all work together; McCain came across as someone who says you can all have everything you want on a somewhat tarnished silver platter. One talked to hopes, but tempered it with hard work, the other played to fears.
The content is all in the transcripts. Everything else serves solely to deceive.
@llewelly,
I dunno. I can see your point, in that I’d rather have the policy wonk with the briefcase full of points to make than the “guy you’d rather have a beer with” any day. (Though in this case, it happens to be the same guy.)
But on the other hand, when it comes to deception… Well, it’s easier to lie with your words than with your body. The transcript is going to be full of rehearsed promises, but with a live debate you get to see at least somewhat spontaneous reaction shots that may give clues about how a candidate actually feels.
The content is all in the transcripts. Everything else serves solely to deceive.
The thing is, I think Obama wins either way. He presented facts and figures to support his arguments, he put forth real proposals with some detail behind them, he consistently made relevant and reasonable responses. As a bonus, the numbers he used were actually true, unlike the few figures McCain threw out.
The fact that he did it while looking calm and presidential is just gravy.
I don’t want to be a part of ganging up on llewelly, but I also disagree. The POTUS is not just a policy decision maker, but also a leader of people. We want a president to be, well, Presidential. Especially now in a time of domestic panic, its preferable to have someone important appear to be calm, knowledgeable and in charge. Of course, you want them to also be policy wonks to at least some extent but appearances really matter in a leader. Obama wins that battle in my opinion.
Obama will take your cynicism, tell you you’re right to have it, and then diffuse it (at least partially). It’s a transcendent thing.