Debate Reaction

My initial reaction from watching the debate is that both candidates did pretty well.

Barack Obama
Pros: Obama did better than I expected, holding his own for the most part. He was aggressive and forceful, projecting confidence. He was well-prepared, and used numbers to back up his positions. He didn't chant obsessively about hope and change.

Cons: Obama agreed with McCain an awful lot, and I wouldn't be surprised if his agreements filled a McCain ad in the next few days. It made him look weak. His attempt at looking forceful also came across as angry at times. He tried repeatedly to tie McCain to Bush, which I think is unhelpful - McCain is known to be an opponent of Bush on any number of issues. He began almost every statement with verbal garbage (uh, uh, uh, uh...), which made him look uncertain of his own positions.


John McCain
Pros: McCain repeatedly said that Obama didn't understand things. This emphasized both his experience and Obama's lack of it. He was very confident speaking about national security, and was often able to point to when he'd visited the parts of the world involved in the questions and talked with the people involved. Began with a shout out to Kennedy who is in the hospital again. For being a political opponent of Kennedy most of the time, this was a classy move.

Cons: McCain started slowly. It is clear that he's much more comfortable discussing national security than the economy - he left several softballs hanging. Though he has a great fiscal record, he isn't very good at communicating how it all works to the American people. He'll need to work on that.

The three biggest overall impressions that I took away from the debate...

1. Me, too...!
Obama agreed with McCain a LOT, and, combined with McCain's repeated use of the 'what Senator Obama doesn't understand is', things came off almost as a wise teacher versus a young student.

The stark difference between the soldier bracelet was a great example. McCain told a story of a mom who asked him to wear a bracelet in memory of her son who had been killed in Iraq, and to make sure his sacrifice wasn't in vain - let the soldiers win. He wore the bracelet, and recited the soldier's name and rank without batting an eyelid.

In his response, Obama said that he, too, had a bracelet given to him by another mom who had lost her son, who asked him to make sure no other mothers would have to go through what she had. The difference was that Obama had to look down at the bracelet to remember the soldier's name. Here it is:

It was a small thing, perhaps, but it spoke volumes of the sincerity with which both men wore those bracelets. Past debates show us that these little things matter a great deal.

2. Respect
McCain referred to Obama as "Senator Obama" through the entire debate. Obama referred to McCain as "John" through most of it, though he seemed to figure out how that looked about 2/3 of the way through. I found that to be a sign of unequal amounts of respect shown in the debate.

3. View of America
McCain ended with a message of a better future and a re-emphasis on his experience and readiness for the job. Obama, on the other hand, ended by asserting that America was damaged goods and that he would be the one to fix it. While I realize this fits with his hope-n-change mantra, I found it borderline offensive that he felt the nation that has given him so much opportunity and success is the disaster he says it is. He also seemed to put more emphasis on what the world thought of America than what Americans thought of America. I think both of those are big mistakes that reveal a great deal about his core views.

All in all, I think Obama did better than expected, probably because almost half of the debate was on the economy rather than national security. But, McCain looked stronger as the debate went on, countering better than Obama and utilizing his personal experience to overshadow Obama's academic knowledge of the topics being discussed. I've read that in these debates the front-runner usually 'wins' a draw, which would favor Obama. But, I think that McCain's knowledge and experience trumped the best Obama had to offer - rhetorical and theoretical knowledge of the way he thought things should be. Keep in mind, too, that while Obama was prepping for several days for this debate, McCain was actually trying to deal with the financial crisis; McCain's performance tonight was not the result of prepping, but of life experience.

I'd give McCain a narrow victory, but not enough to change much in the polls. I was expecting him to win big on this one. Again, I think the difference is that only about half of it was about national security. I'm a bit surprised that Obama didn't try to hit hard on the bailout mess, but he may just be too frightened of his own part being revealed in front of a massive audience.

By the time I finished this review, there is already a lot of reaction from professionals. Here's a taste:

Hugh Hewitt posts a question-by-question scorecard which is really good. Michelle Malkin grudgingly gives it to McCain. A mixed bag of folks weighs in here. Mark Hemingway thinks McCain won simply because Obama didn't. Stanley Kurts believes McCain wins because both candidates came across as advertised:

I think McCain clearly won this debate, chiefly because he came across as advertised–extremely comfortable and experienced on issues of defense and foreign policy. McCain speaks here like a man who knows his own mind, who’s command of the game is so taken-for-granted that he can focus on aggressively on playing it to win. Obama also came off as advertised–as a bright and earnest guy, but still in the process of coming to grips with these questions.

Michael Graham offers an interesting take that transitions us to the next debate:

Sen. McCain won the debate on points. But he was supposed to win, so the fact that Obama fumbled a few questions just won't matter.

If McCain had landed a knockout punch he might have raised the "ready to lead?" question about Obama. But he didn't. Obama did fine. And he's the frontrunner. Therefore he wins.

Or put it another way: If Gov. Palin does as well Thursday as Sen.Obama did tonight, Republicans will be happy.

It seems that most people are granting the victory to the candidate they wanted to win. Funny that, huh? ;)

Anyway, hopefully this has been useful to you. The next debate is probably the most anticipated: Biden vs. Palin. I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to what idiotic things Biden might say off the cuff, and to see how Palin handles it. Should be fun!

We'll see if there's any change in the polls after tonight's debate. Only time will tell how these guys really did.

There's my two cents.



***UPDATE***
Full transcript here.

Wow, McCain's campaign moved fast: