McCain Shines at Saddleback, Obama Hesitant, Equivocal
Will Malven
8/16/2008
Score one for McCain.
In the forum at Pastor Rick's Saddleback Church Obama was hesitant, vague, and clearly outclassed by McCain.
This may have been the most lopsided debate in American Presidential politics since Ronald Reagan demolished Jimmy Carter in 1980. It most certainly was McCain's best performance of this campaign and possibly of his entire career.
Where Obama came off as ambiguous, McCain came off as knowledgeable and specific. Where Obama came off as hesitant and equivocal, McCain came off as decisive and straight forward...and McCain's sense of humor was very much in evidence.
The reason for this lopsided result was clearly a matter of the candidates' core beliefs. For McCain, the answers came easily because all he had to do was state what he believed. For Obama the answers were strained because he was forced to calculate his responses.
A Democrat with national political aspirations who may personally feel abortion is an evil must be careful in his answers not to offend the pro-abortion faction. Questions about national defense must be answered with a view of not offending the large anti-war faction, and questions about education must be addressed without offending the teachers' unions and other Liberal special interest groups.
On topic after topic Liberal Democrats face a minefield every time they are asked to state their views on difficult issues. Every response must be weighed for how it will be seen by their various special interest groups. They cannot afford to be straight forward because they know that their core values are far out of step with the majority of voters.
For a man with strong core values very much in line with those of the American people, like John McCain, a forum like this at Saddleback Church is a cake walk. All he must do is speak from the heart and his answers will resonate with the audience because as honesty always does. He doesn't have to pause or hesitate. He doesn't need to stutter or vocalize his thought process with "um" or "uh" while he searches for the response he feels will make him look best to the voters.
Faced with difficult questions, Barack Obama invariable stutters as he searches for just the right message. A performance like Obama's is an object lesson in self-awareness and self-obsession. It is an exercise in vanity. For candidates like Obama, the question which is always being asked internally is, "How do I answer this question so that I will appear to be wise and just?"
Contrarily, for candidates like McCain, the underlying question is much less stressful, "What do I believe?" As a result, the answers from Obama are necessarily hesitant and equivocal and the answers from McCain are necessarily straight forward and rapid.
This contrast was made manifest in the fact that McCain's responses were so rapid that Pastor Rick was able to ask him additional questions simply to fill out the allotted time.
As my regular readers know, I have never been much of a McCain fan. In fact, I have been quite hostile in my early editorial comments about McCain, but one aspect of McCain's character has always been evident and that is his record as a straight shooter. Tonight's "debate" (actually back to back interviews) only served to further illustrate that trait of Senator McCain's.
I must admit, I was very impressed with Candidate McCain in this arena and it has warmed me considerably to his candidacy.
The contrast between the two has never been made clearer. McCain is a man of the people and a strong advocate for America. He is a man of strong conviction.
Obama is a man of opportunism and expedience. Honesty, including self-honesty is not his strong point.
The night was clearly Senator John McCain's...no if's, and's, or but's about it, round 1 goes to McCain.
Long Live Our American Republic!!!!
8/16/2008
Score one for McCain.
In the forum at Pastor Rick's Saddleback Church Obama was hesitant, vague, and clearly outclassed by McCain.
This may have been the most lopsided debate in American Presidential politics since Ronald Reagan demolished Jimmy Carter in 1980. It most certainly was McCain's best performance of this campaign and possibly of his entire career.
Where Obama came off as ambiguous, McCain came off as knowledgeable and specific. Where Obama came off as hesitant and equivocal, McCain came off as decisive and straight forward...and McCain's sense of humor was very much in evidence.
The reason for this lopsided result was clearly a matter of the candidates' core beliefs. For McCain, the answers came easily because all he had to do was state what he believed. For Obama the answers were strained because he was forced to calculate his responses.
A Democrat with national political aspirations who may personally feel abortion is an evil must be careful in his answers not to offend the pro-abortion faction. Questions about national defense must be answered with a view of not offending the large anti-war faction, and questions about education must be addressed without offending the teachers' unions and other Liberal special interest groups.
On topic after topic Liberal Democrats face a minefield every time they are asked to state their views on difficult issues. Every response must be weighed for how it will be seen by their various special interest groups. They cannot afford to be straight forward because they know that their core values are far out of step with the majority of voters.
For a man with strong core values very much in line with those of the American people, like John McCain, a forum like this at Saddleback Church is a cake walk. All he must do is speak from the heart and his answers will resonate with the audience because as honesty always does. He doesn't have to pause or hesitate. He doesn't need to stutter or vocalize his thought process with "um" or "uh" while he searches for the response he feels will make him look best to the voters.
Faced with difficult questions, Barack Obama invariable stutters as he searches for just the right message. A performance like Obama's is an object lesson in self-awareness and self-obsession. It is an exercise in vanity. For candidates like Obama, the question which is always being asked internally is, "How do I answer this question so that I will appear to be wise and just?"
Contrarily, for candidates like McCain, the underlying question is much less stressful, "What do I believe?" As a result, the answers from Obama are necessarily hesitant and equivocal and the answers from McCain are necessarily straight forward and rapid.
This contrast was made manifest in the fact that McCain's responses were so rapid that Pastor Rick was able to ask him additional questions simply to fill out the allotted time.
As my regular readers know, I have never been much of a McCain fan. In fact, I have been quite hostile in my early editorial comments about McCain, but one aspect of McCain's character has always been evident and that is his record as a straight shooter. Tonight's "debate" (actually back to back interviews) only served to further illustrate that trait of Senator McCain's.
I must admit, I was very impressed with Candidate McCain in this arena and it has warmed me considerably to his candidacy.
The contrast between the two has never been made clearer. McCain is a man of the people and a strong advocate for America. He is a man of strong conviction.
Obama is a man of opportunism and expedience. Honesty, including self-honesty is not his strong point.
The night was clearly Senator John McCain's...no if's, and's, or but's about it, round 1 goes to McCain.
Long Live Our American Republic!!!!
What do you think?
To leave your opinion click on the word "COMMENT(S)" below
posted by Will Malven at 9:09 PM
1 Comments:
You are right, McCain really did get kudos for this debate. However, I am still not convinced - he is just not a reliable conservative candidate (not too mention his usual tepid nature in front of the media). Doesn't McCain make you just a bit nervous, given his views on climate change, immigration, and various other liberal ideologies? I feel that I can't trust him once he gets into office. But what is the alternative? Bob Barr? I want to hear your thoughts.
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