I thought the second debate was a low-energy snooze-inducer, though on the whole I suppose the “Ambien ad” quality works to Obama’s advantage since all he needed to do was avoid making a chucklehead of himself. McCain needed to make Obama look like a child, and he failed to do it. I don't buy the HuffPo screaming headlines about the cosmic scale of McCain's wretched performance, nor do I quite buy the charges that his use of the words “that one” to refer to Obama sinks to the level of a phrase such as, say, “you people.” It may indicate something less than wonderful, but I don't think it means McCain is a sheet-wearing chief pointy-head.
Anyhow, both candidates seemed somber. The audience was the same way, and for the most part they seemed like window dressing because Brokaw took over their supposed function.
I was mildly annoyed at the outset – someone asked Obama a question that I recall being specifically about pensioners, and he responded with generalities about “the middle class.” Depressingly like the usual question-response pattern, which goes like this:
Q. What specifically are you planning to do about issue x, which affects me personally?
A. Well, Gerald, thanks for your question. When I am president, we are going to deal with issue x, which is all about the middle class. Yep, we’re gonna nail that issue x. Gonna get it right, just let the middle class wait and see. In fact, Middle Class™—I mean Gerald—we’re going to provide health care access by providing access to health care, and we’ll damn sure keep social security solvent by keeping social security solvent.
Of course I’m being a snarkosaurus, and well know I that it’s difficult to respond to questions the exact parameters of which you don’t know in advance. It took me years as an educator really to learn how to listen to what my students are saying. I couldn’t do it at all when I started out. I still don’t always have the “presence of mind” that I could wish, even when not responding to questions or comments. And I also know that for politicians, offering extremely specific answers can backfire, offending one group while pleasing others, and so forth. But I think candidates need to do better than promising to fix the economy by fixing the economy. Well, DUH!
Anyhow, while I don’t share the enthusiasm of, say, Andrew Sullivan, I suppose I’d have to say that tonight probably helped Barack. Some of his responses were “spot on.” He has been rising steadily in the polls to the point where it’s hard to see how he can lose, short of failing the Edwin Edwards test: that is, “getting caught with a dead woman or a live boy.” (No doubt Sarah Palin will accuse him of both in the next week or two, but nobody with half a brain listens to Her Moosieness by now.) And even Edwards didn’t fail the Edwards test – no, I think they got him on racketeering charges.
Blogging Dino, you are right, of course, about the political risks of trying to appeal to one constituency while alienating another. It explains why we get these bland and mind numbing tautologies as the political snake swallows it’s own tail.
ReplyDeleteObama’s rhetorical abilities are legion but his ripostes have been frustrating. For instance, at one point last night, Obama responded to McCain’s newest initiative … government purchases of distressed mortgages. Obama mentioned parenthetically that the concept was not new, but he missed his chance for the zinger.
Obama should have mentioned that this concept was widely discussed in liberal circles (example: Paul Krugman wrote about this in an Op-Ed piece weeks ago). The impediment has always been right-wing conservatives who place the blame on homeowners and “affirmative action” policies but not banks and diversified financial institutions trading in junk derivatives.
Obama had a chance to point out that 30% of the nation’s wealth moved from the middle class to the economic elites under the Bush/Cheney income tax policy [not that I would have Obama say this but … America is rapidly turning into a Banana Republic], and not all distressed mortgages are the result of borrowing beyond one's means. Higher energy and health costs in the face of stagnant wages have also damaged these home owners.
What Obama could have said is: “McCain would say anything to get elected but don’t count on him to actually do the right thing because he is held in thrall by the extreme right-wing of his party.”
When we needed red meat, Obama has been turning us into herbivores.
I forgot to add this to the bottom of the last comment: This NYT editorial called the Politics of Attack:
ReplyDeleteIt is a sorry fact of American political life that campaigns get ugly, often in their final weeks. But Senator John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin have been running one of the most appalling campaigns we can remember [my bold].
They have gone far beyond the usual fare of quotes taken out of context and distortions of an opponent’s record — into the dark territory of race-baiting and xenophobia.
Yes! Every little dig helps.
Hello (o)ct(o)pus,
ReplyDeleteRed meat -- now that's something a dino can dig (though I'm actually vegetarian, believe it or not). Yes, on the Palin rallies especially, the people who are most attracted to this woman increasingly seem to be irrational xenophobes prone to violent impulses, directed by a mean-spirited demagogue.
On Barack as a debater, yes, one sometimes misses the point-by-point clarity and quickness of thought shown by one William Jefferson Clinton. But he's very good nonetheless, so I suppose I shouldn't complain.
And of course homewrecker Cindy Botox is all over the news today with the counter accusation that Obama is running the dirtiest campaign in American history.
ReplyDeleteDidn't there used to be a comic book about a strange world where everything was the opposite of this world?
Bizarro World? I remember that from Seinfeld -- there was an episode in which Elaine is torn between her usual friends and the bizarro version of them, without all the flaws and quirks. Yes, I've heard about Cindy McCain's comment--it is bizarre to the point of being incomprehensible. Obama has been more or less respectful of his opponent; to have done otherwise (given McCain's military service) would have been political suicide.
ReplyDelete