Being There

(Sorry for the prolonged absence. Job searching takes a lot out of a person, you know?)

Last night the American public got to witness the highly anticipated debate between Democratic VP nominee Senator Joe Biden and Republican nominee Governor Sarah Palin. Oh what fun. This one entertained me far more than the first Presidential debate, which was boring and tedious by comparison (though I still appreciated the foreign policy questions and thought the answers given revealed a lot about both candidates). But let’s confess. Most of us tuned in to see if Sarah Palin would screw up. And also to see if anybody would get rickrolled. (Chris Matthews was the first victim!).

I’m going to keep this analysis short and preface it by saying I’m an Obama/Biden supporter. You can some more in depth commentary from MSM outlets. Here’s what I thought.

I thought Biden did a pretty good job. Many said beforehand that he had to be very careful not to appear too intellectual or condescending, yet avoid sounding patronizing, while also avoiding a “bulldog” moment. As much as the man could, I think he fit that bill last night. He answered questions more directly than Palin did, and even if he was guilty of question dodging at times it was because he wanted to return to his core message of the non-difference between McCain’s policies and George Bush’s policies. I think his most powerful moments were when he choked up speaking about his experience as a single father and when he called out Palin for continuously using the “maverick” term in her answers. Overall he sounded intelligent and experienced. As an old white guy, though, he lacked a certain relateability to the common viewer (though I think the single dad thing and the constant shoutouts to Scranton may have helped).
Palin, on the other hand, had about zero expectations going into this thing. If you haven’t seen her terrible answers in the Couric interview I suggest you go check them out on youtube. As a result of the week of bad press she’s had, all Palin had to do last night was not make a big mistake. To me, there were a couple hugely terrifying things she said, but I don’t think these things will register with the greater American public or the mainstream media. I don’t think it’s appropriate in any measure to tell a man whose first wife died in a car accident that his second wife (a schoolteacher) will have “her reward in heaven.” I also didn’t appreciate the fact that Palin repeatedly painted herself as a mother in an average American family, when she has refused to release her tax return reports on time (as required by the Federal Election Commission). I find it terribly convenient that her campaign worked out a deal with the FEC to delay the release of those reports until after this debate. I have a feeling they will reveal her income is nowhere near “average.”

Rherotically, I thought it was clear that Palin had a shallow base of knowledge and talking points that she felt comfortable with, and she was terrible at segueing back to those points. She openly asked Gwen Ifill a couple times “Can I talk about X unrelated thing now?” She hammered “energy independence” like she invented the phrase and couldn’t stop saying “team of mavericks!” I’m not sure that most viewers will particularly care about her not answering questions or blantantly changing the subject, but it really bothered me.

It’s obvious that Palin’s strong point is relating to the American public and her down-home, country style. Her answers were littered with colloquial phrases like “darn right” and “heck of a” and “say it ain’t so.” I don’t have a problem with this style in particular, though personally I consider it a bit unprofessional in a nationally televised debate for the second highest office in the land. The problem is that Palin has no substance behind the style. She failed to distinguish her ticket’s policies from the policies of the last eight years that almost no one in this country wants to repeat. And often she failed to even give specifics about the plans McCain had on certain issues, instead giving a broadstroke answer along the lines of “we’re going to clean up this mess!”

In the end, then narrative is goign to be that Palin “won” due to not screwing up and restoring some faith in her mental capacity after the horror of the Couric interview. But I think the debates were still very telling. She is a little fish in a big pond, and she’s not adapting fast enough or well enough to be considered ready for the position she’s running for. This is on top of all the problems with her governancy of the State of Alaska (a few of which will come to more light very soon). I think Biden really showed the country that he is ready to lead and is knowledgable on all issues, not just the two or three that Palin can claim to be an expert on.

Regardless, I look forward to the next debate on Tuesday. The political atmosphere is really charged up this year, and it makes watching and getting involved in the political process a lot more fun.