Quick Takes on the Biden-Palin Debate
Accolades: I’ve seen every vice presidential debate since they began. This was the best one ever.
It was certainly the most substantive. While both candidates engaged in misconstructions of their opponents’ positions and records, neither was egregious in this.
Sarah Palin Didn’t Crash and Burn: I admit that my expectations of Palin going into the evening’s debate were extremely low. I’ve said on this site that while her selection by McCain for his running mate was a demographic home run, I wondered whether she could be taken seriously as a candidate for vice president. One may still question her qualifications, but not based on her debate performance. Sure, she did come back to those talking points a lot and yes, she was folksy, but she was also well-informed, even on foreign policy and national security questions.
Just Plain Folks: Joe Biden is a guy who plays up his middle class roots and legitimately so. He is, in many ways, still a middle class guy. Palin shares similar roots and, unlike what she did in her interview with Katie Couric, made no effort tonight, to pretend otherwise in the debate. Both Biden and Palin were devoid of pretense.
But Palin’s use of colloquial English was especially striking. I turned to my wife at one point and said, “She talks like my Mom.” That may just strike a chord in some voters.
Biden gets an A+: Just because Palin beat pre-debate expectations shouldn’t cause the fact that Biden turned in an outstanding performance to be ignored. There’s just no way of getting around the fact that, after thirty-five years in the Senate, Joe Biden knows the issues. He also was, at times, deadly in his indictments of the Republican Party’s record for the past eight years and of Senator McCain’s. Interestingly, I don’t believe that he ever criticized anything in Palin’s record. In fact, he applauded her for the Alaska windfalls tax on oil companies, a levy that results in refunds for the people of that state.
Blessedly Quip-Proof: Like the McCain-Obama set-to last Friday night, neither candidate came supplied with pre-canned zingers.
And while there was good humor and smiles, the two candidates, stood, so to speak, toe to toe, without much in the way of sarcasm. But even the little bit of sarcasm they used was delivered with decorum.
The Q Rating: The Q rating measures the likability of prominent personalities. My sense is that you would have to be a raving partisan to come away disliking either Joe Biden or Sarah Palin after tonight’s debate. They differ substantially on the issues and they went after one another tenaciously. But their ready smiles and their straightforward, if stylistically different, rhetoric, made them both likable.
This is a quality that Biden has always possessed. His innate affability, along with his obvious intelligence, comfort with himself, and knowledge of the critical issues confronting the country, all contributed to his being, I thought, the most attractive and interesting candidate for president in this year’s Democratic field. So, it’s no surprise that I came away from tonight’s debate still thinking that Joe would be a good guy with whom to watch a baseball game.
But, Palin’s likability may shock some people. For some, the surprise, if they’re willing to admit it, is that Palin didn’t collapse in a puddle, intimidated by a political veteran and his mastery of policy facts and options. For others though, it may have been that this woman who, in recent weeks, has been caricatured as part airhead and part Iron Lady, is a pleasant human being with a brain.
In the 2000 election, Al Gore had every reason to expect to beat George W. Bush. The economy was in good shape. The country was at peace. And Gore knew his stuff. Boy, did he know his stuff. But Bush won.
Some will say that Gore had the election stolen from him. But even if you believe that, he couldn’t have lost if he had been able to capitalize on his built-in advantages and had successfully prevented the election from becoming close.
What made it close? One poll suggested a possible explanation. It was because W seemed like the kind of guy with whom voters then, back in 2000, which today seems like a million years ago, could see themselves hoisting a few brewskis. Gore wasn’t that kind of guy. Who wants to party with a wonk? (Unless you’re another wonk.) Although Biden clearly knows the issues that he and Palin addressed tonight with greater depth, neither he or the Alaska governor are wonks. They’re likable people, at least if the personas they projected tonight can be believed.
Who Won?: The conventional wisdom is that when one candidate beats expectations and the other meets them, the victory goes to the person who beat the expectations. But I don’t think that conventional wisdom applies here.
Palin is still so new to the national scene that, given her exceptional speech at the Republican National Convention, followed by her bad performances in two major interviews, and now, her excellent showing tonight, the voting public, which seemed to be abandoning her, will withhold judgment of her and her qualifications for the time being.
That in itself is a triumph for the McCain campaign. Had the Katie Couric-interview-iteration of Palin showed up on that debate stage tonight, it would have proven fatal to both McCain’s candidacy and her future as a national figure. As it is, she will fight on to another day.
Button, Button, Where’s the Button?: Hot button issues which have generated much heat and little light–or policy, for that matter–over the past twenty-eight years, were largely absent. Abortion, for example, didn’t come up. Nor did stem cell research.
One such issue did come up: gay marriage. And guess what? The candidates agreed. Both said that there should be full equality and total access to benefits to both heterosexual and homosexual couples living in committed relationships. Both said that marriage should not be redefined to include homosexual couples.
For some who buy into stereotypes of Christians, particularly evangelical or conservative Christians, Palin’s position on this may come as a surprise. But it is perfectly possible for a person to believe that the practice of homosexuality is contrary to God’s will and still believe in full civil rights for homosexual couples. That may be a more subtle or nuanced perspective than some may attribute to a Christian, but I see it exemplified in Christians all the time.
The Bottom Line: In my judgment, the only way this vice presidential debate could have changed the results of the November 4, election was if Palin turned in a disastrous performance. She didn’t. Conventional wisdom says that running mates, in the end, don’t have much effect on the outcomes of elections. No doubt the McCain camp is breathing a sigh of relief tonight knowing that, while Palin has undoubtedly won new respect from political pros on both sides of the Blue-Red divide, the election will come down to a choice between Barack Obama and John McCain. Palin is no Dan Quayle.
[I regularly blog here.]
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Thanks for the take. I became much more comfortable with Palin in the (honestly rather small, pre-Cheney sort of) VP role. I still have gigantic questions about her as Prez. When you were watching the debate, in which role were you envisioning her?
Here is what happened (see below). If you need a “score,” on a scale of 100, Biden won 53-47. Hype over Biden is in no way justified. What matters now is that McCain continues to be decently propped up by Palin and it's now up to McCain to win or lose everything.
Last night's VP debate presented us witt this:
Both candidates did okay. The universe (liberals, anyway) expected (and hoped) that Palin would fail miserably, and she did not. During the first part of the debate, she did better than Biden. She made one mistake (changing the subject rather than annihilating Biden about something he and Obama want to do: if I heard right, they want to reduce interest rates and _principal_ on outstanding home loans) and in my view was working to recover that superior position after that, and she didn't do this. Once or twice she did what McCain did that I didn't like to hear (or see), repeat typical sound bites in answering questions. She also failed to take Biden apart when Biden argued that progressive taxation is justified due to “fairness.” It is nothing of the kind, and with the size of government Obama and Biden want, it will simply be impossible to tax those over $250,000 and reduce taxes on everyone else. The amount of income that needs to be taxed to support what the Dems want forces them to reach well down into the middle class portion of aggregate income. Biden probably had begun the debate deliberately in a timid or more accurately, careful and conservative manner but loosened up about the time he made the controversial statement about revising loan contracts and Palin didn't demolish it, and him. As Biden loosened up he began to do much bettter. I know everyone was afraid of Biden saying something stupid, but he didn't, he actually did quite well when he became animated, it's probably now worth the risk to “let Biden be Biden” out on the campaign trail and for the media to begin to cover him rather than avoid covering him to conceal his gaffes from the public (so as to continue supporting the Democratic Party this year, same as every other year). Overall, it was a draw. Both candidates did fine. It's a draw because honest people would have to strain to name a winner. Neither candidate stood out immediately as better and neither one did notably better.
I disagree that Palin's showing last night would surprise all but the most partisan voters with her folksy charm and likability. A considerable portion of moderates and independents have mothers & “X-mom” friends (where X is any kid's sport you care to think of) who can either talk intelligently about the issues or don't bother when they know they are out of their depth. And I think everyone who has even cursorily followed this race knew Palin's “it-factor” was that she was considered very salt-of-the-earth. Goodness knows her stylistic way of speaking was on show from her first public appearance with McCain at the announcement of his VP choice.
Am I arguing that she's not likable as a person? I'm sure she is, perhaps not to me since I don't have kids and would find both her accent and over-simplified worldview highly grating. But I don't elect people to the 2nd highest executive office in the country based on how great of a mom or dad they are or have been, nor based on their accent.
In my world, I cannot in good conscience elect someone who does not understand basic issues, over-simplifies complex problems from day 1 and who substitutes for wisdom sarcastic phrases, trite tag lines, rote “facts” and her own “folksy” vernacular. Regardless of how down-home it makes her seem, I don't want someone who SEEMS nice, but IS NOT qualified. Sadly, I do not think I can vote for someone who chose a running mate like that either.
For all their folksy witticisms about a Straight Talk Express and deriding the other side about “there you go again looking back”, I have not heard much (anything?) to differentiate the McCain/Palin camp from Bush/Chaney. I have not heard anything like straight talk from McCain that did not divert the conversation back to the past and deflect the spotlight on Obama's history (see: The Surge, Obama's vote to cut funding for the troops.)
She's no more likable than she was when this whole thing started in August. She would have made me like her a whole lot better as an undecided moderate voter if she had stuck to answering the questions and clarified her own position or that of her running mate's without defining it as essentially unObama. The only times I did find her compelling and perked up with optimism about her Straight Talk was early on regarding her frequent safety-net energy stance (not a huge surprise, since she's from Alaska) and later her answer on gay marriage (a huge surprise, since I believe she's stretching the truth about her own convictions at best while also not speaking for John McCain or the Republican Party.)
I do agree that it was a draw in terms that it was not a game-changer for undecided voters. Obama/Biden have been clear on their platform from the beginning, so nothing new here. McCain/Palin has struggled to impress upon me how they can be differentiated from Bush/Chaney and that did not coalesce last night. Believe me, I would have LOVED to hear Gov. Palin expound on those differences even if they were coated in folksy phrases.
Palin came across nice looking, pretty well trained (except for minor gafts and Huge wrongs on what our Military has said). Then she spoiled it. She became the gee just little ole me. I am just like you, I know what you all want and I am a Maverick just like my buddy McCain. Give me a break I do not believe she speaks like this normally. I checked out her video of her running up in Alaska and SHE SURE DID NOT SOUND LIKE THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, SHE WAS A HARD HITTING POLITICAN and came across as that.. not anyones buddy or GEE MEE. Is this what the Republican party makes her do. She has some knowledge in some areas BUT Maybe a next President. NO. Everyone was and is still tip toing around her, the Republican party will not let her be interviewed as a true running mate. BE Gentle, no hard stuff. No thank you
Since Palin could not tell the Truth about what our head General said about Afganistan why should we believe her about ANYTHING she says about Obama. Sure he may know people who are not great but SINCE she is the big wig in Alaska doesn't she? We can now see why she was put on the ticket. She is there to try and run down Obama (and not having to show any know how in anything) to keep McCain from doing his dirty work. The McCain I have known in AZ and voted for is NO MORE, he is so stuck on making the next four years HIS GREATEST deed that he has become somone I no longer know and WILL no longer vote for. I do not believe in his honesty any longer or see in him the things he USED to stand for. Palin is not like any of my friends or neighbors she is just like the other Politicans and it shows through when she tries her cutesy talk and actions. Like I want a VP who thinks it is cute to WINK and purr as she says CAN I CALL YOU JOE?. You notice she did not tell him to call her Sarah? Or look at the COLD COLD WAY she just brushed off his speach about his family and death. She just jumped out to try and put him down as soon as she opened her mouth when he was done explaining that he knew how hard it was to raise a family. Shame on her as a person (not talking about her as a woman.. she could be a man and I still would not think he/she with her mouth and history would Imake me feel safe having as the almost next president.
OBAMA squeeked by. McCain and Palin better watch out they could be the cause of some kook killing Obama due to their sluring of him and almost calling him a teriorist. Hell if that happened the whole world would cut both of them out and with their nasty name calling they do not deserve to even be in office. They are scary.