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McCain-Obama Debate Quick Takes
A few quick reactions to the McCain-Obama debate.
“If you like this kind of book, this is the kind of book you will like.” That book review is often attributed to Abraham Lincoln. A paraphrase of it will do in talking about how the debate went on Friday night. If, before the debate, you loved Obama’s positions on the war and domestic issues, you probably still love them. And if you were keen on John McCain going into the debate, you’re probably still keen on him. Neither candidate perpetrated gaffes and with one possible exception, neither plowed new ground.
What would you do if you didn’t have $750-billion? The most interesting part of the debate may have come when moderator Jim Lehrer pressed the two candidates on what of their spending proposals would have to go by the boards in light of the current fiscal crisis. Each was understandably reticent to name particular programs, but Obama seemed more reticent. True to form, McCain, the riverboat gambler, made the boldest suggestion, saying that he would consider a spending freeze that would not effect the Defense budget or veterans programs.
A welcome relief. Neither candidate seemed to have prepared zingers from their handlers and the audience refrained from applause. Because of these facts and others, the debate was less of a show than past presidential debates have been. For a long time now, I’ve wanted to trash the whole format. Tonight redeemed it a bit in my mind. That’s good. We are, after all, electing a president, not the next winner on American Idol.
“Senator Obama doesn’t understand.” This was a McCain mantra. To me, it came across as condescending. I didn’t like it.
The Al Gore Award. In the former vice president’s debates with then-Governor George W. Bush in 2000, he tiresomely displayed an encyclopedic knowledge of the world’s hot spots and of international leaders. Bush, who earlier in the campaign, had been tripped up by a Boston-area reporter when he couldn’t name the Pakistani general who had just taken over his nation’s government in a coup, Pervez Musharraf, with whom he would later have extensive dealings, seemed unimpressed. So did voters. In fact, pols, pundits, and late-night comics maligned Gore for all his name-dropping.
But on Friday, as McCain dropped names and mentioned international hot spots he’d visited over the years, he was surprisingly un-Gore-like. By doing this, he seemed to press his natural advantages over Obama, just as Obama pressed his own on Iraq and Afghanistan.
To summarize, for two guys who have been less than sterling debaters in the past, they each presented us with surprisingly crisp, no-baloney briefs for their respective candidacies. It was all refreshingly boring and appropriately sober for our trying times.
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