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:
[wp_youtube]LRpmC9GXa-I[/wp_youtube]
And this is what VP candidate who has some background knowledge about the issues at hand sounds like:
[wp_youtube]jj0bEzW7v1E[/wp_youtube]
(don’t know why the vids are tiny…)
