I’m so glad that McCain deigned to show up to his debate, although claiming to be too good for it? Classy. I TiVo’d the debate last night, so I’m only an hour and a half through it (only so much I can take…and after a beer it’s harder to focus on political punditry).
My major issue with McCain during last night’s debate was that he seemed perpetually disgusted by the mere presence of his opponent. I don’t know if that’s latent racism or (anti?)liberalism, but whatever it was Obama came out being the gentleman of the evening. In the first few moments, when they shock hands, McCain briefly looked up, but quickly looked away.
One of the wonderful things about television is that we can see how people act—a lot of what I got out of the debate could not be gotten from a radio version of it. (Aside: what was up with the lights? People were blinking crazily!) Obama looked straight into the camera, making me feel like he was looking at (and therefore cared about) me. I know it’s a trick, something your speech preparers can prepare you for, but it still made him seem that much more honest than McCain, who looked vaguely off to his right (which took me some geometry to figure out, since it seemed like Lehrer was off to his left).
When McCain was talking, Obama looked at him, attentively, as if he were paying attention and absorbing his words. When Obama was talking, McCain looked at Lehrer, or at his hands, as if looking at Obama might sear his soul. I’m not sure that I want as president someone who cannot even give the appearance of giving his opponent’s side credence. In a meeting with foreign heads of state, I would like someone representing my interests and safety who look his opponent in the eye.
I’m now looking forward to the VP debates, although checking out how they handle themselves in interviews is instructive:
This is what a petty, pouty “wish they wouldn’t pick on me” VP candidate sounds like:
And this is what VP candidate who has some background knowledge about the issues at hand sounds like:
(don’t know why the vids are tiny…)
6 responses so far ↓
1 G // Sep 27, 2008 at 4:19 pm
“he seemed perpetually disgusted by the mere presence of his opponent”
ummm… YEAH!!!
did McCain think that by pretending there was no one else up on stage with him he would win the debate?
I started looking just to see if JUST ONCE he would look at Obama, or JUST ONCE direct a sentence or two to him, instead of speaking of him in the third person like he wasn’t present.
2 John // Sep 27, 2008 at 8:07 pm
This not looking and indirect referencing thing is weirder when you consider that they are both colleagues in the U.S. Senate. The division I support at work has about 130 people, I know most by name, and I can’t imagine not looking at or speaking in a public setting with some level of familiar respect, even with one or two of my more annoying or ambitious coworkers.
3 John // Sep 27, 2008 at 8:09 pm
xJane, the recent upgrade/fixes shrank our wp_youtube vids, but directly embedding the videos works now, where it didn’t used to.
btw, that Palin and Biden contrast was very clear. Thanks.
4 Elaine // Sep 28, 2008 at 3:15 pm
I’m sure that some of McCain’s not looking at Obama was rudeness and that weird temperament he has. But, to be honest, I think a lot of it was also his being pissed off that his plan to weasel out of the debate didn’t work out.
I thought the whole thing made McCain look like a resentful seven-year-old.
5 Craig // Sep 28, 2008 at 7:35 pm
I thought the whole thing made McCain look like a resentful seven-year-old.
Seven, or Seventy-seven, is there that much of a difference?
Oh, and you can adjust the sizes of the videos in the html code you embed.
6 xJane // Sep 29, 2008 at 9:50 am
thanx for the information about YouTube, I’ll have to experiment
I’m sitting in the atrium listening to the local Republicans complaining about how people are complaining about McCain’s inarticulateness, claiming that Obama was even more inarticulate and, even so, that’s not how we should choose our president. I’m trying not to giggle.
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