by Nicholas | I believe that it was John McCain who wanted this town hall meeting style of debate. In fact, I think he wanted all three debates to be like this, and I suspect right now he is thanking his lucky stars that they won’t be. If he thought he was going to ace last night’s debate by treating it like an intimate gathering of people who all know each other, then he was sadly mistaken. Because of course it wasn’t a town hall meeting – it was a debate between two men in front of the world. A few dozen “ordinary” people sitting on the debating floor in well-behaved, silent rows, a very few of whom could ask questions, did not this a town hall make.
Still, that didn’t stop McCain trying to treat it like one. Someone, media advisors perhaps or maybe a focus group, had told him that he would come across best if he tried a folksy, personal approach. Not as folksy as the ghastly Palin, thank heavens – there was no winking or gosh darning – but he did use the phrase “my friends” over and over. I found that unwelcome. He isn’t my friend. Moreover, he came across not as a politician but a salesman, and therefore instantly untrustworthy.
Yes, I know that candidates hoping to be elected are salesmen. A political campaign is essentially a sales campaign, after all, but if they do it right they don’t look like salesmen, and that’s exactly how McCain came over last night. And not an especially confident salesman at that. When it wasn’t his turn to speak, he scribbled notes furiously, or else paced up and down, looking in every direction except at Obama. Obama, meanwhile, came across as relaxed, and in command of the facts. He seemed far more self assured than in the first debate, though towards the end he was unable to resist the temptation to ramble on, taking a bit too long to get to the point.
The candidates were far sharper with each other than before, and less willing, Obama especially, to allow each other to get away with misrepresentation. McCain tried to raise the spectre of higher taxes, claiming first that everyone would pay more tax under Obama, and then, when Obama corrected him, pointing out that only people and businesses earning over two hundred thousand dollars a year would be paying more, McCain could not show approval, of course, but neither could he show disapproval or he would have lost a lot of his audience. It is hard to fill ordinary people with outrage at the thought of high earners paying more taxes but the Republican credo that what’s good for rich people is good for America, and if you’re not rich then that’s your own tough luck, seems to be ingrained in McCain.
The low points of the debate were when McCain patronised one of the audience members, to the toe-curling awkwardness of the viewers, telling him in very basic terms what Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were. He almost paused between each syllable to make it even easier for the fellow to understand. Then, later on, he referred to Obama as “that one,” accompanied by a pointing finger in his opponent’s direction (without looking at him, of course). It wasn’t as bad as “the black one” but it almost sounded that way. Minus several points for McCain for being totally crass. I suspect that after he said it he realised what a mistake he had made. I certainly hope he did, anyway.
As with the first debate, I suspect that no one who had already decided how to vote was prompted to change his mind. However, this might sway a lot of the genuinely undecideds. In spite of McCain’s attempt to come to the town hall to warn his friends about Obama, it was on balance Obama’s evening, and the polls taken after the debate reflected that. It was interesting, and revealing I think, that after the debate, the McCain’s left as quickly as they could, slinking away without even the customary handshakes between opponents and hugs from each other’s wives. Obama, who must have known he had done pretty well, stayed for a long time, chatting to audience members, posing for photographs, and looking relaxed and confident.
One more debate to go. As of this evening, Obama appears to have enough votes to win several of the battleground states, but if a week is along time in politics, then almost four weeks is an eternity. Anything can happen. I’m waiting for the terrorism alert that the government will announce close to the election to give McCain a chance to tell everyone how tough he will be with terrorists. He ought to be better at that than he was at schmoozing the town hall, my friends.
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