We went to a debate party at the home of our colleague from Hagerstown Community College Sean Maher. It was a younger crowd than we usually hang around with (20s to 30s – My son Bud’s age group… he was with us, too) and decidedly pro-Obama. I say that so as not to artificially color my views as a 62-year-old Obama supporter who fears the loss of investment retirement income, Social Security, home values, etc.
While there was a drinking game taking place in one room… take a shot every time Palin says “Maverick”… those of us in the living room focused on the debate and whether or not the candidates were answering Gwen Ifill’s questions or not (we were watching on MSNBC which, as my wife pointed out, did us the favor of keeping the original question printed at the bottom of the screen while the two candidates veered to the pre-set messages they had, especially in the case of Palin, obviously rehearsed.)
Ifill’s questions and her steering of the candidates to answer them was pretty weak. I was surprised at that… she could have kept returning to the question to get them to focus answers, but she didn’t. Too bad. It was one of the things that Jim Lehrer did pretty well.
Palin, to her credit, did not make the really stupid statements which she did with Katie Couric on their two days of interviews. She did not fall apart, kept her “cutie” composure, filled her comments with her “country girl” character and idiom, and certainly kept her supporters happy for the whole 90 minutes. Did she say anything that wasn’t pre-screened by Steve Schmidt and cohorts? No. You knew from the first, quite loud (so it would be picked up by the mikes) handshake comment…”Can I call you Joe?”… that she was ready to put Biden off his guard from the beginning. Fortunately, he didn’t fall for it.
Biden kept his cool through the evening and came off, I thought, as a completely professional government operator. His knowledge of foreign policy and the law, to his credit (they each have to be credited with their strengths) established an amount of confidence which was clear in the snap polls after the debate from CNN, CBS and other sources that handed the debate to the Democrat by a 2-1 margin.
Some observations:
- Palin still not sure what a VP does. She actually made a statement that she thought the Constitutional powers of the VP could be expanded. Biden made it clear that the VP was subordinate to the President, and his experience and talent would be at Obama’s disposal. Period.
- Biden went in with an intent to focus on McCain and not on Palin and pretty much pulled it off. Palin went on the attack without factual substantiation, which Biden could easily call her on, frequently during the evening.
- Ifill’s questions were awfully soft. Perhaps she was intimidated by the pre-debate complaints from the Republicans on her new book about black politicians. I don’t know.
You could say about the debate that Palin came across as someone you would like to know, but Biden came across as someone you could trust to do the job.
What did you think?