Examing the October 7 2008 Presidential Debate
Debate Reveals Folksier Side to McCain as Election Looms
Oct 8, 2008
Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain answered the questions in a familiar vein, repeating their respective platitudes. Moderator Tom Brokaw tried, vainly, to corral the two potential presidents. The questions ranged in quality from good (the Medicare and Social Security question especially) to asinine (Iran attacking Israel, ignoring the fact that Israel already has nuclear weapons and has, historically, done a fine job defending itself).
The most obvious similarity was the clear disdain the two candidates have for each other. The senators were a bit chippy toward each other, particularly concerning a question about Pakistan (which had both candidates providing the same answer, even though neither candidate acknowledged that fact). Sen. Obama wanted to refute several of Sen. McCain’s attacks, which clearly annoyed Brokaw.
The New McCain?
One revelation of this debate, however, was Sen. McCain stealing from Governor Sarah Palin’s playbook. Sen. McCain, strangely, tried to emulate Gov. Palin’s annoyingly popular folksiness, repeatedly using the phrase “my friends,” and trying to joke with Brokaw.
Sen. McCain has shown he has a sense of humor; his verbal sparring matches with The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart are remarkable. This time, however, he came off as a little condescending, trying to force a laugh while conning the audience. This new persona doesn’t suit him and clearly looks unnatural and uncomfortable to McCain.
Really, how folksy can a person be when he has seven houses?
Sen. McCain was at his political best during the straight talk years, when he actually was unafraid to say what was on his mind. And it wasn’t his honesty that energized his core voters; it was his willingness to go into detail, to speak beyond the vague promises that fill his current campaign.
Unfortunately, Sen. McCain spent most of the debate speaking with that cursed ambiguity, unwilling to delve into the necessary and desired specifics of his campaign. His straight talk days are now just a sad footnote of his campaign, a mark of the man he once was.
The Problem With The Debate
But this wasn’t entirely his fault. The most glaring problem with this debate was the imposed time limits, which both candidates went over numerous times. This lead to a clearly agitated Brokaw reminding and reprimanding the candidates for going over their allotted time, speaking to the presidential candidates as if they were misbehaving children.
Excluding Brokaw’s feelings, however, the time limits forced both candidates to lose the necessary depth that would have swayed those vital undecided voters. Both Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama did attempt to provide more details than the last debate, but both men ran out of time and reverted back to inflated rhetoric. One minute is simply not enough time to go in depth about any topic, let alone ones as important as the economy or genocide.
Neither Sen. McCain nor Sen. Obama truly won the debate, although neither lost it. With just one more debate before the election, and Sen. Obama’s lead in the polls growing, Sen. McCain needs either an amazing performance in this last debate or an egregious flub by Sen. Obama, to win the election.
