Two Visions
It was a generational battle, said the New York Times. It was a contest in trying to look “presidential.” But above all, it was a fight over two visions of the United States and its role in the world.
To judge from some of the instant polls and focus groups, Barack Obama seems to have come off slightly better than John McCain in the first televised debate between the two presidential candidates. Frank Luntz, the Republican pollster who conducts focus groups for Fox News, had an interesting take on Fox TV of how the two candidates impacted undecided voters. Obama, according to Luntz’ focus group, came out ahead.
Political observers and professional commentators, reflecting their partisan personas, could not help but find that their favorite candidate thoroughly bested the opposition. Malkin cheered McCain’s repeated attacks on Obama’s experience, Huffington found Obama effective in going after McCain’s support for Bush’s invasion of Iraq five and a half years ago.
But neither Obama nor McCain scored a knockout blow. The two campaigns go on to fight another day and engage in two more televised debates in the weeks ahead.
It bears repeating that the Democratic candidate should be far ahead at this point in the campaign, given the crisis in American finance and economy, the feeling of unease in the country and America’s misfortunes abroad. The divisions among Republicans over what to do about their own President’s financial rescue plan illustrate a deep rift within the Party. But McCain has brilliantly positioned himself as an opponent of the current Administration rather than its prospective descendant. In the fundamentally disloyal (and, yes, cynical) ways of “Washington,” the same elected representatives who cheered George W. Bush for the better part of the last decade now constitute a bipartisan crowd denying any connection to him.
Thus, the White House goes to the candidate who makes Americans feel he is least connected to the White House’s current occupant.
There was one image from last night’s debate that sticks in the mind; you can see it in the photos on today’s front pages. John McCain looks past Barack Obama, as though he refuses to acknowledge Obama’s presence. Obama turns to address McCain during the debate; McCain never reciprocates. Does the American public notice this, in the same way they noticed George H.W. Bush looking at his watch during his debate with Bill Clinton, or Al Gore rolling his eyes as Bush junior spoke earnestly of what he would do as President? Does the McCain smirk make him seem uncivil and cost him points with the voting public?
The American public may not be long of memory or wise in the ways of foreign affairs, but they are experts in watching television. The way you look, and the way you behave, are at least as important as what you say.