Sarah Palin did not fall on her face or make any major gaffes. If the bar was subterranean, Sarah Palin passed it.
But that was not the bar.
The bar was: is she a credible Vice President and does she bolster the ticket?
In my opinion, Palin hovered around credibility in the early part of the debate. I was a bit surprised at how well she handled herself on the economy…until I realized she was saying the same things about energy and taxes over and over again – even when the question turned to, say, bankruptcy. Her connecting moments on domestic policy, which seemed strong at first, turned into repetitive vagueness.
Overall, she could make a case for her survival as a credible VP candidate on domestic matters. And I could see conservatives feeling a bit more comfortable with her in public after the first half.
On foreign policy she simply collapsed. Her talking points expired and she made no sense on Pakistan, Iraq and especially Israel. As a Jew I was downright offended by her “Well, I’m glad we agree on how important Israel is.” I got absolutely no sense that she knew anything of substance about the world.
The only thing Palin has going for her on this is that nobody expected her to do well on foreign policy. Yes, she didn’t make an asinine comment about seeing Russia from Alaska. But she clearly does not understand national security beyond the most rudimentary level.
Hardcore conservatives may feel relieved that she held her own in the first part of the debate – even the conservatives on the news recognize that she did poorly on foreign policy. They won’t be calling for her to be thrown from the ticket anymore, so I suppose it’s a victory of sorts.
But for Independents, I can’t imagine that she crept beyond the bare minimum of credibility.
As for Joe Biden it was a different story. He was surprisingly nervous early on. He was vigorous in defense of Obama and strong against McCain, but he seemed a bit wonkish at first.
Things started to change about a third of the way through and he simply took over the debate. He somehow found his stride and started talking about the economy and the middle class in compelling terms. And on foreign policy he was dominating. As David Gergen said, this was the strongest performance Biden’s ever given.
The most important moment was the “choke up” when Biden showed that he connects with ordinary people just as Palin did.
As I write this the polls just came in and voters agree that both did better than expected, but that Biden did better overall.
So, my final thoughts are this:
1) Palin survives. She is no longer JUST a national punchline. For Democrats, she still is. But for Republicans, she is not an automatic cringe-inducer. As such, she can go back to hosting rallies and be of help to the ticket.
2) Biden improves a ton. He solidifies Democratic support for the Obama ticket and, by showing discipline and restraint (especially after the first half-hour), he was an asset. He strengthened Obama as a whole.
3) The trajectory doesn’t change. We will go back to the economy again tomorrow. Palin didn’t collapse the McCain ticket. But she didn’t turn things around either.