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Friday, September 26, 2008

News Obama Won It. McCain Looked Alright Though.

Posted by Matt Davis on Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 7:59 PM

That's my take on tonight's Presidential debate. What's yours?

Major low point for McCain, on the bail-out: "This isn't the end of the process, this is the end of the beginning." Not to mention the multiple times he referred to Henry Kissinger as his "good friend."

Major high point for Obama on the war in Iraq: "You were wrong" repeated three times in succession. "John, you like to pretend the war began in 2007."

Other analysis you may be interested in:

The Guardian: "This was clearly a much better night for McCain than many were expecting; after an unremarkable start, he appeared to find his ground on foreign policy, and delivered significantly more damaging blows to Obama than vice-versa; Obama missed too many opportunities, and was maybe too generous in many of his replies. Then again, various TV pundits are right now hotly debating the notion that McCain's dripping contempt for Obama - and his strange, nervous grinning and chuckling -- looked unpresidential, while the Democrat looked the part."

The LA Times: "Obama, who in the past has frustrated fellow Democrats for not being more sharp-edged in responding to GOP attacks, may come in for more such criticism for not more directly responding to McCain's general theme tonight. Indeed, several times he said he basically agreed with McCain's critique on various foreign policy issues. GOP operatives can be counted on to take every opportunity to make note of that - and to argue if that's the case, why settle for him instead of McCain."

Politico: "Obama has been uneven, but he's landed the hardest punches."

Lastly, here's that "You were wrong" moment for posterity:

 

Comments (8) RSS

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1
Really? McCain's low point? I believe the line was "this isn't the beginning of the end of this crisis, it's the end of the beginning." It was a clearly scripted line, but also true and, as sound bites go, I kinda liked it.

Posted by no one in particular on September 26, 2008 at 8:50 PM · Report
2
I agree that Obama came out on top, but he really needs to stop bringing his knife to gunfights.
Posted by Tommy on September 26, 2008 at 9:39 PM · Report
3
McCain was nervous, disassociated, and unprepared. Over and over he played the tapes in his head from the campaign trail. He's clearly staggered by events and his own shortcomings.

Obama played it smart not to overreach. A gaff - especially to seem too eager, too dangerous, too panicky - would have been an vital injury.

What the Obama campaign need to do next is role out the proxies - the celebrities, the favorite local politicians, the high-viability advocates with a uniform message of trust and confidence. Let them make the hard punches for the next 15 days or so.

Biden also needs to not overreach with Palin and appear wolfish. Like Couric, Gwen Ifill will just ask basic questions of Palin and she will crumble of her own accord. She'll try the "Legally Blonde" strategy again (see Judith Warner's essay in the NYT - http://tinyurl.com/3fpfuh) so it's Ifill's responsibility to maintain the pressure - not Biden.

Thinking about it, it's a pressure moment for Ifill - not Biden or Palin. Well - a squirm moment for dedicated Republicans who are considering future chuckles at the golf club such as, "gee and you voted for that moron, didn't you."

It's Obama's race to lose right now.
Posted by J_Renaud on September 27, 2008 at 7:13 AM · Report
4
This one was pretty close, but that is as good as a McCain loss for the foreign policy debate.

McCain did better than I had expected, demeanor-wise. He didn't come across as condescending, which is a common criticism of him last night that I've read.

I thought Obama was great. What a contrast between him and John Kerry during a debate! I liked the part where McCain made the "so far left" crack and Obama chuckled, causing McCain to chuckle.

That came off very well.

Kerry would have looked all stuffy and offended and Gore probably would have rolled his eyes and tried to interrupt for the umpteenth time to immediately rebut it.

Posted by DemonJuice on September 27, 2008 at 8:08 AM · Report
5
really? I thought mccain was dripping with contempt for obama. he was thoroughly awful.
Posted by mmm on September 27, 2008 at 11:17 AM · Report
6
As a huge Obama fan, I was terrified that McCain had the upper hand last night, at least in terms of swaying Jane and Joe Undecided in Ohio. I'm surprised to see that Obama has gotten so much good press, he seemed pretty scholarly, unapproachable, and nuanced. I guess it's difficult to "relate" to viewers when talking about foreign policy issues like Iran and complicated economics business like the bailout, but I thought that he could have more directly confronted McCain about his taxcuts for the rich, connections to the Bush administration, etc. His line about McCain being wrong was stellar; we need a moment like that about every issue to truly paint McCain as an extension of Bush's policies.
Posted by ambrown on September 27, 2008 at 11:57 AM · Report
7
I think the thing about debates is... they don't change anybody's mind. If you're for Obama, he won. If you're for McCain, he won. I don't think either of them scored a knockout, or a major gaffe on the lines of Gerald Ford's Poland remarks. I thought it was a yawner, pretty much.
Posted by Dave Lister on September 29, 2008 at 7:46 PM · Report
8
Obama looked solid. McCain not looking at Obama annoyed me. It was disrespectful.
Posted by pdxduck08 on September 30, 2008 at 11:46 AM · Report

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