Both candidates did well tonight. McCain’s campaign was imploding, and he needed to get back in the game tonight. He accomplished that, despite a slow start. Obama needed to demonstrate a working knowledge of foreign policy, and he accomplished that.
I think Obama did a little better. Both had good points on Iraq, and each was able to make their respective arguments. Given that McCain has the edge on experience and foreign policy, this is a win for Obama. Along those lines, here’s the best moment of the debate for Obama.
McCain did a good job of emphasizing his experience and knowledge of the issues, and he repeated over and over his argument that Obama did not understand the issues. That said, Obama was able to deflect those by being able to speak intelligently about the issues.
We’ll see how this plays out. McCain did not hide his utter contempt for Obama. McCain always hates his opponents, and he was barely able to even look at Obama. The grouchy candidate rarely wins, so this might hurt him. Obama, on the other hand, was confident and tough without being arrogant or antagonistic.
McCain’s “what he doesn’t seem to understand” line got old pretty quickly. I understand the value of a talking point, but those are effective when trying to spread a thought through several different media outlets. When you say something time and time again in the same debate, it comes off as repetitive.
And, of course, McCain was mischaracterizing Obama’s positions.
I think this is a win for Obama. He held his own in foreign policy and at times he was speaking more intelligently than his counterpart, who seemed more interested in telling everyone how many different countries he’s visited.
The press in Italy reported this morning a clear victory for Obama. I suppose one must factor in some bias but at the same time Sole 24 Ore is more right wing than left.
To get an idea of the “pulse” of America all one has to do is read the comment section of this article:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09262008/tv/mad_about_letterman_130739.
htm
The majority of posts indicate a distaste for liberal points of view and how all the media promote those points of view with no balance. Nobama couldn’t control his condescending smirks and I’m sure that got picked up by people in the middle– he’s still in trouble, despite who the Italian (and I’m sure all other European) media says who won.
As far as I’m concerned, if Europe supports BO, that’s even more reason to vote McCain.
Nick – the NY Post is a conservative rag. It’s amazing how you think that’s the pulse of America!
I would say, all things being equal, that this was a draw. Neither candidate stood out, neither really screwed up, and while McCain strengthened his experience advantage over Obama by detailing many of the major foreign policy decisions he’s been a part of in his career, Obama proved that he’s no pushover when it comes to this stuff.
But a draw is more like a loss for McCain, isn’t it? This was his bread and butter, his turf, and Obama held up well. Nobody would’ve been surprised to see McCain walk out of a foreign policy debate with a decisive victory, but that didn’t happen. And now, the focus will shift back to the economy and social issues, which aren’t McCain’s strong suit.
Of course, the biggest potential (likely?) disaster is next week’s VP debate. With what we’ve seen from Palin recently, this could be a train wreck.
McCain may not have lost the debate, but he certainly missed an opportunity.
To be fair- the link was from Drudge so it may have been a little skewed– I’m being fair and balanced here (like FOX
).
At this point in the game, with Obama leading by 2 to 4 points nationwide (using data compiled prior to the debate), McCain desperately needed a clear victory on his home field and he didn’t get it. He came off as angry and frustrated. Obama came off as hawkish enough for the soccer moms and coherent on economic policy.
Expectations are so low for Sarah Palin that I’m not sure there is any way that she doesn’t exceed them. She has all but her core constituency thinking it’s going to be a train wreck. The wild card is Biden – if he can be respectful and sharp, he shouldn’t do any damage.
Biden will have a hard time resisting to abuse Palin and I agree he has to be careful to be respectful. It is sort of absurd because for the love of god, McCain has put a mental midget in line for the top office in the land, and there is a certain disrepect for our country in that. Still, politically, Palin has the admiration and probably the votes of many middle class whites and Biden has to be careful about how he comes accross.
I think his approach is simple. He just needs to stick to the issues, and defelct questions about her experience. Always bring it back to where he and Obama disagree with her on policy.
When she says something stupid, he just needs to react again on the facts and issues. He doesn’t need to bury her. Her responses will speak for themselves.