Round one: Obama, McCain in a draw -- but....
There was no dominant performance, no moment of great eloquence, nor any instance of a meltdown.As a result, many analysts will surely characterize the first presidential debate as more or less a draw. And that is fair enough.
But in TV terms, Republican candidate John McCain had a pretty good night Friday onstage at the University of Mississippi – especially given the low expectations with which he arrived after a very rocky week for him and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
The problem that both McCain and his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, suffered from in the first third of the debate was finding the right voice in which to speak. They couldn’t decide who to address their answers to and in what voice.
Both started out wanting to speak directly into the camera – in effect, addressing the America people. But moderator Jim Lehrer, PBS anchor of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, repeatedly urged them to speak to each other. Lehrer’s instincts were right – he wanted a more revealing and authentic conversation than the kind you get when candidates are cranking out campaign-stop sound bites in big voice.
In the end, neither was allowed to speak in the campaign voice, and that was a victory for viewers in terms of getting to know more about them and their positions. But Lehrer never really got them speaking to each other either.
Initially, both candidates were thrown off by Lehrer’s repeated admonitions, but it hurt Obama, who is very good at speaking in a large voice, more. McCain who shines in town hall meetings, went to the voice he uses in that setting -- focusing his gaze on Lehrer and speaking to him as he would in a town hall meeting focus on the person in the audience who is asking the question.
McCain did go overboard with that form of address in never looking at Obama and rarely talking to him. But it was clearly part of a strategy to use his gaze and body language to underscore the apparent contempt he had for what McCain repeatedly tried to depict in words as Obama’s “naivete” and lack of experience especially in matters of national defense. McCain repeatedly used the phrase “he doesn’t seem to understand.”
That strategy was a risk, and some viewers might read it as being overly aggressive. But historically in TV debates, the person on the offensive, the one who is more aggressive, tends to do better – if he doesn’t go too far. And just the fact that McCain could stay on the offensive for most of the 90-minute encounter was in itself a kind of victory given that Obama had three big advantages going in with McCain tied to a bumbling administration, a hated war, and an economy in crisis.
Give Lehrer high marks for ditching the debate organizers’ plan that the candidates talk only about national security and foreign affairs in this first debate. The first 40 minutes were spent on the economy, as they should have been given the moment of economic crisis in which the nation finds itself.
Obama had no really bad moments, and overall he seemed informed, poised and knowledgeable – all presidential positives to viewers trained in their presidential expectations by the values of shows like West Wing. But again, strictly in terms of TV performance, McCain did slightly better.
When the Arizona senator spoke about the mother of a soldier who had been killed in action giving him her son’s bracelet to wear, his voice and body carried some emotion. Rhetorically, Obama countered deftly, pointing out that he had a bracelet, too, from the mother of a soldier who had died in battle, but his voice was flat when he said it.
And while there was no stinging sound bite that is likely to be played over and over again on TV this weekend, McCain came closest to delivering one when he said, “It is hard to reach across the aisle when you are that far on the left.”
In fact, it was the one time Obama seemed a bit ruffled, referring to McCain as “Tom” instead of John a few seconds later.
But the Democrat quickly recovered and fought back -- especially in the last third of the hour when he found a smaller and more natural sounding TV voice. As a result, round one of these landmark debates will probably be judged strictly through partisan prisms with each side finding enough to declare its candidate the winner.
A prediction: Look for record ratings for the first 45 minutes, and then, a steady tune-out when the ratings are released. As epic as these debates are, it was, after all, getting late on a Friday night at the end of a very emotional and trying week in America.
(Above: Getty Photo of John McCain and Barack Obama by Jim Bourg)
Comments
Have to give you credit David where its due.
Fair accessment which suprised me a bit after some of your posts and responses eariler this week.
I was/ am at work and was only able to listen to some of it on the radio.
I checked out several cyber opinion boards and blogs and pretty much got the typical over the top claims that suited the author.
Thanks for being objective.
Hi Bud, Thanks for your fair minded response in stopping back to check out my analysis even though you disagreed with th posts earlier in the week. I think the verdict in the press that you will hear repeated a million times on Sunday morning talk shows is that it was a draw with enough for each guy so that his side can claim victory. I thought Jim Lehrer did a nice job in giving both room to state their views. There is lots of action ahead this week, with Palin-Biden on Thursday, and I am already getting pumped, so please keep checking in. Z
Posted by: Bud J. | September 27, 2008 3:46 AM
This is a bunch of garbage.
Posted by: nrb | September 27, 2008 7:43 AM
David: Nice assessment. Based on previous articles, it does seem to reveal that your a lifelong left-leaning deomocrat (not that anythings wrong with that...it's just humorous how many media people in your position refuse to simply acknowledge that to the readers, instead acting like an objective, non-biased writer...just admit it!) Personally, I was surprised at how well McCain did...I heard he debated well, but still thought there was a good chance Obama would show him up big time. McCain seemed sincere, calm, and speaking from experience and more from the heart. I felt that Obama spoke well, but fumbled his words at times, and seemed more rehearsed w/ key phrases to say depending on the topic. If McCain wins the election, there's no doubt in my mind that Hilary would have beaten him...she seems to be a better speaker...not with planned speeches,(as Obama did fantastic in his acceptance speech), but rather with interviews and debates.
Hi, thanks for the comments. I think if you read the previous posts on Bill Moyers, Al Franken and Keith Olbermann, the "left leaning" analysis is questionable. But I feel like you are trying to be fair, and I appreciate that. Z
Posted by: Anonymous | September 27, 2008 5:44 PM
I agree, Lehrer seemed to especially make this debate about the issues and prevented it from becoming a series of accusations thrown back and forth between the candidates (though that did happen from time to time.) The fact that the economy was the topic of discussion for such a long portion of the debate, shows Lehrer's effort to make it a productive debate. I think his questions about the economy, our relationship with Russia and Iran, and foreign diplomacy really aimed at what the American people want to know.
Also although McCain had a fairly good performance, i'm interested in what the polls will look like after the upcoming vice presidential debate considering Palin has only done three interviews for a national tv audience, and her last performance did quite some damage to the McCain campaign.
Posted by: Molly | September 28, 2008 3:47 PM
I agree, Lehrer seemed to especially make this debate about the issues and prevented it from becoming a series of accusations thrown back and forth between the candidates (though that did happen from time to time.) The fact that the economy was the topic of discussion for such a long portion of the debate, shows Lehrer's effort to make it a productive debate. I think his questions about the economy, our relationship with Russia and Iran, and foreign diplomacy really aimed at what the American people want to know.
Also although McCain had a fairly good performance, i'm interested in what the polls will look like after the upcoming vice presidential debate considering Palin has only done three interviews for a national tv audience, and her last performance did quite some damage to the McCain campaign.
Hi Molly, Thanks for this thoughtful analysis. I see Lehrer's performance was discussed on the Sunday morning news shows, and you were in agreement with the consensus critique. And in this case, I think that is a good thing. Thanks Z
Posted by: Molly | September 28, 2008 3:47 PM
I didn't watch the whole debate. But what I did see was pretty good. McCain and Obama were debating like regular adults. No backlashing or the two candidates criticizing each other.
But the problem with televised debates is that voters may choose a candidate based on the appearance. In this case, Obama would've won. He seemed very calm, whilst McCain had a lot of strong things to say, but he looked very tense, a little nervous, and sweating.
We've seen this in the 1960 presidential debate between JFK and Nixon. JFK was back from tanning in the Caribbean and looked younger, more fresh-faced, whilst Nixon looked more like a grumpy old man.
Kudos to Jim Lehrer for being an ace moderator.
Hi Alex, Thanks for the analysis. I agree with the kudos for Lehrer. Very interesting the part about McCain striking you as tense and sweating. I guess I would say he was perhaps more intense. Thanks.
Posted by: Alex | September 28, 2008 7:28 PM
I was at work while the debate occurred but managed to catch parts of it throughout its duration. I am surprised that neither candidate managed to come out of the debate as the clear winner. I guess it goes to show that both are very strong in character and were able to hold their ground. McCain seemed to work his experience a lot and use it as an advantage over Obama, but it appeared Obama managed to keep up with him for the most part. Because this debate ended with neither candidate coming out ahead of the other, I'm very intrigued to catch the future debates to see what happens and what both men managed to learn from this first debate.
Posted by: Quinn | September 29, 2008 1:12 AM
As much as Obama lied Friday night (especially about Henry Kissinger's comments), he still came off looking like a clown standing next to a heavyweight. As John McCain deftly pointed out, Obama is too far to the left to reach over the aisle. Thursday's Vice Presidential debate is going to be the real barn burner. Sarah Palin is going to answer "yes" or "no" and the windbag Joe Biden is going to go on for two or three hundred words and look the fool.
Posted by: oldno7 | September 29, 2008 2:18 AM