I watched a bit of Saddleback on Saturday night. The consensus seems to be that McCain won, where 'won' means something like 'generated more rousing applause more frequently than the other guy'. So congrats to John McCain on pandering a little bit more, a little bit better than Obama.
That said, entering into this exercise it was hard to imagine Obama walking away in a worse position with the evangelical community than when he started. This dwindling bloc of voters was never going to come out en force for Obama anyway and so the only direction he could go -- realistically -- was up. I think he did that. He may have relied upon that devil nuance too often, but the voters he isolated when doing so weren't going his way anyway.
For McCain his concern had to be drawing these voters back into the tent. Perhaps this is why his rhetoric was dialed up tremendously while the substance remained awfully lacking.
(This post blows. I cannot string a coherent sentence together, let alone a sustained thought. I feel like I'm gesturing wildly if lazily in the hope that one of you folks picks up on what I'm trying to say.)
Saddleback
Posted by Joel at 8/18/2008 09:58:00 AM
4 Comments:
I have a shit ton to say about this (watched the whole thing and the commentary after) but am too slammed to write a lengthy response right now.
I agree with you completely. But I think McCain hit it out of the park. While his answers lacked substance, he was direct, succinct, humorous and tugged at those heart strings over and over. He spoke in black and white and left little areas of gray.
Obama, who I thought did well and was very likable, better study that tape and take a cue from McCain. He doesn't have to pander, he just has to be clear.
The distinction was never clearer than in their responses to the question of evil existing in the world. McCain nailed it.
Also, this is why they need to make Biden VP. For better or worse Biden is incapable of the lengthy treatises to simple questions Obama too often generates.
The evil answer and the abortion answer. Oh, and his moral blunder answer.
But I think he totally got the audience with his "hardest decision of my life" answer.
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