in for the fight of your life (you lack poetry)
So, Obama didn't slam McCain nearly as hard as I'd hoped. I had pictured the old guy flying backward through the wall and breaking a hip from the sheer impact of the oratory. Here's how he could have performed better in my eyes:
-He missed an opportunity to ridicule him for the obviously ephemeral "suspension" of the campaign. If he'd simply smiled and said "I'm glad you were able to make it here tonight," the implied cowardice would have hung over him like a raincloud for the rest of the evening - courage (and all that other manly bullshit) being the bedrock of the self-image McCain's selling.
-He refused to challenge the comparison of Obama's "stubbornness" (on the surge) to BUSH'S stubbornness (on the initial invasion!), even though it was so ironic he couldn't help openly chuckling. The next time he was given the mic, he went straight to the closing statement about his father in Kenya blah blah blah. Come on man, don't just let that Orwellian shit lie there. Mock what's mockable.
-He repeatedly started statements with "Senator McCain is right about this, but..." Mistake. Lost ground. Don't ever say he's right, because he sure as hell isn't going to ever admit you're right. If you have to acknowledge common ground, say, "McCain and I agree on this". Better to not acknowledge, and act like the common ground is common sense.
-Relatedly, he repeatedly let McCain get away with saying, "What Senator Obama doesn't seem to understand is..." This was a very condescending way of playing the experience card, but it could work. He should have retorted, "No, I UNDERSTAND your position completely, but I DISAGREE with it because x y and z." (Or 1, 2 and 3 - he made a lot of numbered lists.)
-Time and again, McCain would hammer on some tiny prerehearsed talking point that his handlers, I'm sure, consider to be a chink in Obama's armor (earmarks, preconditions, tactics). Obama would then respond, well here's what the REAL issue is, and open the whole thing up. McCain would then completely dodge the larger issue and return to repeating the same trivial garbage. A couple of times, Obama did say, "Nobody's talking about x..." (and I really like the implication there, that McCain is babbling non sequiturs to an overly patient and baffled crowd, because he's frickin' ancient) but this happened so often that the third time and beyond it would have been fully appropriate to say, "Senator, stop avoiding the issue and answer me." Done respectfully, that would have scored major points among every undecided.
ALTHOUGH, as I watch this the second time, it does seem like Obama is the clear winner on every level. More confident, more prepared, more ethical, more presidential. I watched on CNN, where they had focus group bio-tickers crawling across the bottom of the screen. Obama, especially on foreign policy, was skilled at getting all three tracks (R, D, I) to pull into the positive. When McCain spoke, the red line soared and the blue plunged, because it was all the same empty buzzwords half of America now associates with patriotism and the other half with dictatorship. So I think that this will be really good for Obama among undecideds and independents.
As for Palin/Biden next week... I think it's going to be the most satisfying display since Colbert at the White House Press Corps dinner.
-He missed an opportunity to ridicule him for the obviously ephemeral "suspension" of the campaign. If he'd simply smiled and said "I'm glad you were able to make it here tonight," the implied cowardice would have hung over him like a raincloud for the rest of the evening - courage (and all that other manly bullshit) being the bedrock of the self-image McCain's selling.
-He refused to challenge the comparison of Obama's "stubbornness" (on the surge) to BUSH'S stubbornness (on the initial invasion!), even though it was so ironic he couldn't help openly chuckling. The next time he was given the mic, he went straight to the closing statement about his father in Kenya blah blah blah. Come on man, don't just let that Orwellian shit lie there. Mock what's mockable.
-He repeatedly started statements with "Senator McCain is right about this, but..." Mistake. Lost ground. Don't ever say he's right, because he sure as hell isn't going to ever admit you're right. If you have to acknowledge common ground, say, "McCain and I agree on this". Better to not acknowledge, and act like the common ground is common sense.
-Relatedly, he repeatedly let McCain get away with saying, "What Senator Obama doesn't seem to understand is..." This was a very condescending way of playing the experience card, but it could work. He should have retorted, "No, I UNDERSTAND your position completely, but I DISAGREE with it because x y and z." (Or 1, 2 and 3 - he made a lot of numbered lists.)
-Time and again, McCain would hammer on some tiny prerehearsed talking point that his handlers, I'm sure, consider to be a chink in Obama's armor (earmarks, preconditions, tactics). Obama would then respond, well here's what the REAL issue is, and open the whole thing up. McCain would then completely dodge the larger issue and return to repeating the same trivial garbage. A couple of times, Obama did say, "Nobody's talking about x..." (and I really like the implication there, that McCain is babbling non sequiturs to an overly patient and baffled crowd, because he's frickin' ancient) but this happened so often that the third time and beyond it would have been fully appropriate to say, "Senator, stop avoiding the issue and answer me." Done respectfully, that would have scored major points among every undecided.
ALTHOUGH, as I watch this the second time, it does seem like Obama is the clear winner on every level. More confident, more prepared, more ethical, more presidential. I watched on CNN, where they had focus group bio-tickers crawling across the bottom of the screen. Obama, especially on foreign policy, was skilled at getting all three tracks (R, D, I) to pull into the positive. When McCain spoke, the red line soared and the blue plunged, because it was all the same empty buzzwords half of America now associates with patriotism and the other half with dictatorship. So I think that this will be really good for Obama among undecideds and independents.
As for Palin/Biden next week... I think it's going to be the most satisfying display since Colbert at the White House Press Corps dinner.