Debate #1: Obama Wins!
September 29th, 2008 by Matt IngogliaI’m going to open this up to reader discussion, but I personally think Obama handily defeated McCain in last Friday’s debate. Going into the event, the media narrative was that Obama would probably lose the night, helpless against McCain’s foreign affairs “expertise”. In my view the exact opposite transpired. Ironically, and through his own doing, McCain came into the debate beaten and broken with no bailout deal and consequently little to no debate prep time. Obama, on the other hand, calmly and masterfully articulated his foreign policy positions, making sure McCain’s attempts to mischaracterize them were unsuccessful. Obama needed to look presidential and credible on this issue, and he did. Don’t take my word for it- look at numerous post-debate polls and the real-time surveys networks like CNN took during the debate and you’ll see that Obama outscored McCain handily, especially with respect to independent viewers who widely considered Obama the clear victor. Ladies and gentlemen, we won on McCain’s strong suit, partially because of McCain’s own doing but mostly because we have a great nominee.
I invite readers to share their thoughts about Friday’s debate, as well as their expectations of the upcoming Biden/Palin “debate”.
September 29th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
My sense of the first debate followed most of the CW among political pundits, which is that a tie goes to the runner, who in this case was Obama. But as you mentioned, the people have spoken and Obama won decisively.
I don’t really know what to expect from Biden-Palin. Will the media set such low expectations for Palin that she can get away with abstract blathering about freedom? I don’t think Biden will say anything all too dumb. He’s been ready for this debate for weeks, so I’ll bet the only thing they’ve been working on is mannerisms.
September 30th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
I score debates like they score prizefights. Unless there is a knockout (”I knew JFK. Senator, you’re no JFK”) you count punches landed. I scored it a narrow win for McCain on points. McCain was the aggressor throughout,
constantly interrupting and — at least twice — getting the last word in. McCain’s clear disdain of Obama, though overdone, established him as the man in charge. Obama’s lawlerly style does not serve him well in this format where sharp, punchy answers work best. His constant “I agree with John” is a classic blunder.
The worst thing Obama did was what he DIDN’T do. Obama should have come out of his corner challenging McCain on the whole campaign “suspension” hocus pocus. He would have put McCain immediately on the defensive forcing McCain to outline how he “saved the day” when it was obvious he did no such thing. It was an opportunity that Obama missed and one that will not return.
Though I think McCain barely “won” it, Obama did nothing wrong and should suffer very little. Hopefully, Obama will be more aggressive in their next encounter.
As for Palin, Biden should pretend she insn’t there. Let her self-destruct.