Obama 1, McCain 0
I was on a plane last night during the debate. My wife taped it for me. I watched it first thing this morning so that I could see it before hearing or reading any coverage of it. I think the media largely has it wrong. If we were going to judge it like a high school debate, then the media consensus that it was a draw or slight advantage for Obama would be right. But stop and think about this for a minute. This was the foreign policy debate. This was supposed to be McCain’s turf. Obama looked comfortable and confident. He had a clear, easy command of the issues. He stood up to McCain’s attempts to distort his record, his statements, or even to tell outright lies. This is likely the best debate performance we’ll see from McCain. McCain looked hostile and seemed to view Obama with contempt for much of the night. Nothing in Obama’s performance warranted that. I think it makes McCain look small. Obama looked like a guy who can talk about this stuff based on his own knowledge. McCain often looked like he had been programmed to repeat key words and phrases over and over.
The one thing I saw in Obama’s performance last night that bothered me is something I’ve seen in the guy and been bothered by for months. He’s not a finisher. He isn’t willing to really go for the throat to win. I think there were times last night when Obama really could have put McCain away. He didn’t. If we face a close, contested election on November 4th, then I think McCain and his people have the desperation to win that will carry them through. Obama doesn’t. I think we should just hope that Obama can ride out the clock with McCain the way he was able to do with Clinton.
In the next two debates, it should become quite clear that Obama is the better choice. From a political consultant’s point of view, McCain is a nightmare in a town hall format. He’s good with adoring crowds. He’s not good when faced with tough questions by average people. Sometimes he’s not good because he’s snappy and dismissive. Usually, though, he’s not good precisely because of that “straight talking” side of himself. He’ll say what he’s feeling at the moment, what he thinks will make him look good with the crowd regardless of whether it conflicts with his campaign’s message or his own record. Tom Brokaw is capable of and not unlikely to call McCain out on that.
