How does a candidate “win” a presidential debate? On Friday, Sept. 26, John McCain and Barack Obama met for their first presidential debate in Oxford, Mississippi. The debate was supposedly to be focused on foreign policy, where John McCain would have a natural advantage over Barack Obama. However, the debate didn’t turn out as anyone would have expected. Firstly, Obama didn’t embarrass himself, and secondly, over half of the debate was focused on the economic crisis.
The general verdict from the media was that the two candidates battled to a draw, with Barack Obama emerging as the winner by default. I, however, came away with an entirely different impression. It seemed to me that Sen. Obama was on the defensive for most of the ninety minute debate. He had to withdraw some of his arguments, and used the lame debate tactics of agreeing with his opponent, ( “Sen. McCain is absolutely correct.), and countering his opponents attacks with a simple, “that’s not true.” Initially, I couldn’t understand how anyone who watched the debate could think that Barack Obama won.
Last Thursday night, Sarah Palin completely discredited my prior judgement. This time, it was my candidate who was emphathizing with the audience. My candidate was looking good on T.V, and my candidate was effectively communicating to the audience. Once again, I thought my candidate had won the debate.
It wasn’t until the post debate analysis on T.V that I began to notice a double standard. All three political correspondants on the major networks declared Joe Biden the winner, apparently using the same standard that I had judged the first debate by. In this race’s debates, the nature of the candidates running has ensured that there will be no clear winners or losers. In the remaining debates, I think that it is safe to predict that Barack Obama will be more effective at communicating, and John McCain will prove more effective at actually debating.
On the Saturday Night Live post debate analysis, I think that Amy Poehler was right when she said that “whoever you already liked” won the VP debate.
Like many historic political figures, Barack Obama’s greatest moment occurred right before his inevitable decline. Two weeks ago, Sen. Obama made history by being the first African American Presidential nominee of a major political party. Before a packed stadium, and on an elaborate stage styled by Greek Mythology, Sen. Obama told Americans that anything is possible in this great country, that we as a people can do anything, and that he was living proof of this truth.
I’m proud to live in a country where something like this can happen. All Americans should be proud. In the words of Gov. Mike Huckabee, “Party or politics aside, we celebrate this milestone because it elevates us as a country.“ Gov. Huckabee was right to commend Sen. Obama for his accomplishment.
However, the next morning an even greater accomplishment of sen. Obama’s became apparent when his opponent, Sen. John McCain, chose Sarah Palin as his vice presidential nominee. With all the attention and adulation directed elsewhere, it became apparent that Sen. Obama had rooted and grown his amazing campaign on two very shallow things, personality and media coverage. Never before in a campaign had the difference between adulation and achievement been so great, and never before had thousands of democrats hit themselves in the head so hard at the same time.
In the few weeks that have followed, it has become glaringly obvious that the Democratic Party chose the wrong person to be their presidential nominee. They could have had the popular, pragmatic liberalism of Hillary Clinton, but instead they got an inexperienced U.S Senator who is barely halfway through his first term of office.
Adding to the Democratic problem was the selection of Joe Biden as the party’s VP nominee. Initially, Sen. Biden appeared to be the working class balance to Obama’s Ivy league appeal, however, the Democrats really got someone who reminds most people of a used car salesman with amnesia.
Political gravity is inevitable. What goes up, must come down. However, if Sen. Obama’s ship could rise for a year, than maybe John McCain and Sarah Palin can stay on top for seven weeks.
Surge in the polls, that is. As of today, Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin are leading their Democratic Counterparts by ten points nationally, according to the latest Gallup/USA Today poll. We are one week out of the Republican National Convention, and the McCain/Palin campaign has now done what formerly looked to be impossible; to take away the “change” theme, and much less the momentum, from Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
When Barack Obama chose Joe Biden as his running mate, I foresaw the effect that it could potentially make on the dynamics of the campaign. For a campaign that prided itself on defying conventional thinking, Obama took the safe and predictable road by choosing Joe Biden as his VP nominee. This mistake left the McCain campaign with an opportunity to upstage the Democrats, and they did.
On April 11, I endorsed Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as my preferred choice for the VP slot on the Republican ticket. I argued that Gov. Palin would bring freshness and a sense of reform to the ticket, thus improving its chances to win in November. I wasn’t feeling very hopeful for a McCain/Palin ticket afterwords, but I stuck by my conclusion that Gov. Palin was still the best choice.
The addition of Sarah Palin to the Republican ticket has dynamically changed the political landscape in America. It has been successfully illustrated that our nation’s best chance for a fundamental change in Washington lies in voting for the McCain/Palin ticket.
I wasn’t going to take credit for being right, but I felt compelled to when I saw Bill Kristol say “I told you so” on Fox News Sunday. If he can take credit for something he said in June, than I thought I should let everyone know that I called it in April.
Well, The polls are in favor of McCain/Palin, and I was right.
I was only hoping for two things in Barack Obama choosing a running mate; one, that he wouldn’t unite the Democratic Party by choosing either Hillary Clinton or one of her supporters, and two, that he would be foolish enough to choose another legislator as his running mate. I got all I was hoping for and more in the choice of Sen. Joe Biden.
Initially, Joe Biden would seem like a good part of any democratic ticket. However, any ticket with the talents of Barack Obama shouldn’t settle with conventional wisdom. Simply put, the nomination of Joe Biden for vice president undermines and contradicts much of what has made Barack Obama such a successful candidate.
For example, Barack Obama has admirably put a new focus on the issue of ethics reform in government, however, Joe Biden has found himself in many ethical quagmires throughout his career. Also, Barack Obama has taken a stand against the presence of special interest lobbying in politics, however, Joe Biden is closely linked to a great number of lobbyists. (The most prominent being his 38 year old son, who has become quite prominent thanks to his father’s influence.) Lastly, Joe Biden was in the Senate when Barack Obama was eleven. If Sen. Biden truly represented change, it seems like we wouldn’t be talking about it now.
The decision to put Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket presents a unbeatable opportunity to the McCain campaign. Republicans have an opportunity to completely upstage the decision with a smart pick, or they could succumb to their recent inclination of stupidity.
I was only hoping for two things in Barack Obama choosing a running mate; one, that he wouldn’t unite the Democratic Party by choosing either Hillary Clinton or one of her supporters, and two, that he would be foolish enough to choose another legislator as his running mate. I got all I was hoping for and more in the choice of Sen. Joe Biden.