Poole: How narrow victories will pile up for McCain

By Adam Poole

Monday, October 6, 2008

The vice presidential debate was the highlight of the last two weeks, garnering more than 70 million viewers, 20 million more than the presidential debate. It was the most watched vice presidential debate in our nation’s history.

Both candidates had been getting into trouble: Sarah Palin because she didn’t know what to say in interviews and Joe Biden because he didn’t know when to shut up (I had actually begun to wonder if he wasn’t on John McCain’s payroll). Viewers wanted to see which of the two would make the greater gaffe.

Neither did. Palin mispronounced the name of the commanding officer in Afghanistan. Biden made a few mistakes, confusing the articles of the Constitution and wrongfully suggesting that McCain had voted the same as Barack Obama on occasions when he hadn’t, but there were no serious blunders for either candidate.

So who won? Biden was very articulate and showed a firm grasp of the issues. He avoided several traps that may have made him appear sexist and even touched on a very sympathetic family tragedy.

Expectations were certainly low for Palin, but she far exceeded them and held her own against the more experienced candidate. She brought Biden to task on his history with his running mate and effectively kept him on the defense through much of the debate. Unlike her opponent, Palin looked directly into the camera and spoke to the heart of the American people.

Biden probably won, but such a narrow victory in a debate where he was greatly favored translates into victory for Palin and McCain.

However, Palin’s performance has not been enough to turn the momentum in McCain’s favor. He still trails Obama in most polls. But with a month to go before the election, Obama might be peaking too early.

The presidential debate was less remarkable. The real focus was on the economic turmoil on Wall Street and the resulting political upheaval in Washington, which is where McCain wanted to be. McCain suspended his campaign and asked for the debate to be postponed so that he and Obama could return to Capitol Hill and do their jobs.

Critics claim this was nothing more than a political stunt. To be sure, with mere weeks before a presidential election, everything that either candidate does is political. In this particular instance, it also just happened to be the right thing to do although the outcome was probably not favorable for McCain.

The foreign policy debate which McCain would have dominated, ended up being partly on economics, a subject which Obama handily won. McCain did come back and win on most foreign policy issues, narrowly making him the winner of the debate.

The night, however, was a huge victory for Obama as he got the foreign policy debate out of the way and effectively held his own against McCain.

The next presidential debate is tonight at 8. It is the townhall style that President Bush excelled at four years ago, and it will be interesting to see how these candidates perform. McCain will have to try not to be a stiff old man and Obama will need to step down from his elitist pedestal if either of them wants to win.

— Poole is a Wichita senior in political science and psychology.

Comments

pantheon (anonymous) says...

Now, I'm not a political "science" major or anything, but could it possibly be that the reason she looked into the camera the whole time is that her major for her 4 year degree was broadcast journalism? And could it be that he happens to talk to people for a living, and was addressing the moderator for most of the time?
Now why don't you just drop the "elitist" adjective. Go ahead and say what you mean. I don't mind, and it'll help out a lot of people. Let's even couch this in terms of a South Park quote.

"People who annoy you"
Let's hear the answer, Poole-boy.

October 6, 2008 at 3:49 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

alloutcars (anonymous) says...

so she spoke to the camera, so what? jim leher (durign the last presidential debate, obviously not the VP debate) encouraged the candidates to speak to each other, since they are debating with each other. palin looked into the camera when she was doing her unnecessary folksy bits..winking and using terms like "hockey mom."

additionally you shouldn't lay on the praise quite so thick for palin's performance. she only did a "good job" because everyone expected another disaster. there isn't much to be said for *not* making a fool of oneself for once.

October 7, 2008 at 8:42 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

henry (anonymous) says...

You are witnessing a campaign that has gotten increasingly desperate and has abandoned its candidates principles. Sarah Palin was a cynical attempt to gain a voting bloc. She is clearly not qualified for the job. The "suspended campaign" trip back to Washington was a farce. Now an attack on "associations."
My friends, after George, it was time for the Republicans to step aside. It can't happen soon enough.

October 7, 2008 at 10:36 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

pantheon (anonymous) says...

Listen, Henry, can I call you Henry? Henry, the terrorism Alaska calls hockey mom joke pitbull. If you want change vote John POW McCain, Obama wants to raise taxes for every darn Joe Sixpack dontchano, and when we hunt moose from helicopters you'll be asking yourself why you didn't support your country.

October 8, 2008 at 11:24 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Advertisement