First Debate
It was a draw, at least for now. I say “for now” because it’s tough to tell how these things will play out until we’ve had at least a week to digest the issues and kick them around. Compare the first debate in 2004, which was universally (by “universally” I mean “everyone except Hugh Hewitt”) viewed as a Kerry win. It was, judging by everyone’s impressions immediately after the debate. However, Kerry’s Pyrrhic victory entailed handing Bush a number of sound bites that seemed to work for Kerry at the time but ultimately worked to Bush’s advantage, instead (most notably, Kerry’s “global test,” which Bush let go on the first debate but beat him up over in the third). The new McCain ad about Obama agreeing with McCain on everything is cute, but it won’t sway anybody. By and large, both candidates did well, which doesn’t move the ball too far in either direction. On the one hand, McCain put to bet the silly rumor that he had suspended his campaign and sought to delay the debate because he was chicken. On the other, Obama put to bed the rumor, which I myself formerly believed, that he was avoiding 10 town hall debates because he knew he was completely worthless without a teleprompter. If this had been the pure foreign policy debate as originally scheduled, I’d declare Obama the winner by default. Since it turned out to be a hybrid, I declare a draw.
September 27th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Man, you know it freaks me out when we agree on stuff. Cut it out! :)
September 27th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Well, if it’s any consolation I think it’s kinda cool when we agree on stuff, so at least we can disagree on that.
September 29th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Heh. I didn’t say it wasn’t cool; just that it freaks me out. :)