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A Debate Scorecard
Sep. 27th, 2008 01:07 amI think Obama performed very well tonight, and McCain moderately well, at best.
It didn’t help him much when he “corrected” Obama over the difference between strategy and tactics when Obama was right, and McCain was wrong. Obama’s citation of the many times McCain has had poor judgment and made the wrong call was also illuminating.
But the real revelation was watching McCain’s continued fear, and fearmongering. McCain could never manage to look Obama in the eye, scared as he was. He was hunched over, with amazingly near-hysteric body language.
Watch the footage with the sound turned low some time.
Obama, on the other hand, consistently came across as knowledgeable and resolute. Polite but unyielding.
Much more presidential — someone dealing from a position of strength, who knew and was comfortable with it. The contrast with McCain’s squirming and constant attack dog demeanor — too anxious and fearful to give any hint of accommodation, lest he be viewed somehow as “soft” — was startling.
Wesley Clark was right: “Everybody admires John McCain’s service as a fighter pilot, his courage as a prisoner of war. There’s no issue there. He’s a great man and an honorable man. But having served as a fighter pilot — and I know my experience as a company commander in Vietnam — that doesn’t prepare you to be commander in chief in terms of dealing with the national strategic issues that are involved. It may give you a feeling for what the troops are going through in the process, but it doesn’t give you the experience first hand of the national strategic issues.”
Especially when you don’t correctly know the difference between strategic and tactical. “It’s not what we don’t know that’s the problem, it’s what we know that ain’t so.”
It didn’t help him much when he “corrected” Obama over the difference between strategy and tactics when Obama was right, and McCain was wrong. Obama’s citation of the many times McCain has had poor judgment and made the wrong call was also illuminating.
But the real revelation was watching McCain’s continued fear, and fearmongering. McCain could never manage to look Obama in the eye, scared as he was. He was hunched over, with amazingly near-hysteric body language.
Watch the footage with the sound turned low some time.
Obama, on the other hand, consistently came across as knowledgeable and resolute. Polite but unyielding.
Much more presidential — someone dealing from a position of strength, who knew and was comfortable with it. The contrast with McCain’s squirming and constant attack dog demeanor — too anxious and fearful to give any hint of accommodation, lest he be viewed somehow as “soft” — was startling.
Wesley Clark was right: “Everybody admires John McCain’s service as a fighter pilot, his courage as a prisoner of war. There’s no issue there. He’s a great man and an honorable man. But having served as a fighter pilot — and I know my experience as a company commander in Vietnam — that doesn’t prepare you to be commander in chief in terms of dealing with the national strategic issues that are involved. It may give you a feeling for what the troops are going through in the process, but it doesn’t give you the experience first hand of the national strategic issues.”
Especially when you don’t correctly know the difference between strategic and tactical. “It’s not what we don’t know that’s the problem, it’s what we know that ain’t so.”
