Robert Novak's Take On The Debates.
Presidential Debate: Tuesday night's townhall-style presidential debate was a bust for McCain, who needed a win to shift momentum.
1. Once again, the most important dynamic was Obama's superior confidence and clarity on economic issues. Obama repeatedly hit McCain and the GOP for deregulation, and McCain never challenged him on the issue, instead offering what came across as a weaker me-too argument. Unless the campaign is willing to invest a great deal of time in explaining it in understandable terms, Fannie Mae is too arcane an issue to run on.
2. McCain's talk of drilling and cutting taxes sounded irrelevant amid today's plunging stocks, bankrupt banks, promises of economic doom, and foreclosure crises. These easy GOP salves don't work today.
3. Regulation, regulation, regulation. Obama's boldness and consistency in calling for more regulation was striking. He's in tune with his party on this score. Democrats haven't sounded so interventionist since Walter Mondale.
4. Where McCain did hit back in the economic realm was on health-care, assailing Obama's promised fines and mandates, deriding "government-run healthcare."
5. On foreign policy, it was a draw. The McCain campaign continues to overplay the arcane-sounding issue of Obama's willingness to meet with foreign despots "without precondition." This time, rather than descend into the weeds as he usually does, Obama dismissed the issue.
6. On style, Obama won hands down in a format that was supposed to favor McCain. Where Obama displayed his mastery in showing sympathy (he feels your pain) and came across as serious, McCain often was awkward, sounding out of breath as he paced the stage, and looking creepy when he smiled.
Vice Presidential Debate: The Republican highlight of the past week, Sarah Palin put in a strong performance, shattering expectations. Just as noteworthy, Sen. Joe Biden did not make a fool of himself.
1. Palin was clear, confident, and relaxed, and she never appeared to be in over her head. On the economy, she was clearer than McCain, hitting Obama and Biden for advocating "redistribution" of wealth as well as "government-run" healthcare. Still, she called for more "sound oversight" of the economy.
2. Biden, like Obama, hammered away on the need for more regulation.
3. On foreign policy, Palin was not impressive, but nor was she embarrassing as Democrats had hoped and Republicans had feared. Biden, meanwhile, showed his competence on the issue.
4. The Biden-Palin matchup was more substantive than either of the presidential contests so far.
1. Once again, the most important dynamic was Obama's superior confidence and clarity on economic issues. Obama repeatedly hit McCain and the GOP for deregulation, and McCain never challenged him on the issue, instead offering what came across as a weaker me-too argument. Unless the campaign is willing to invest a great deal of time in explaining it in understandable terms, Fannie Mae is too arcane an issue to run on.
2. McCain's talk of drilling and cutting taxes sounded irrelevant amid today's plunging stocks, bankrupt banks, promises of economic doom, and foreclosure crises. These easy GOP salves don't work today.
3. Regulation, regulation, regulation. Obama's boldness and consistency in calling for more regulation was striking. He's in tune with his party on this score. Democrats haven't sounded so interventionist since Walter Mondale.
4. Where McCain did hit back in the economic realm was on health-care, assailing Obama's promised fines and mandates, deriding "government-run healthcare."
5. On foreign policy, it was a draw. The McCain campaign continues to overplay the arcane-sounding issue of Obama's willingness to meet with foreign despots "without precondition." This time, rather than descend into the weeds as he usually does, Obama dismissed the issue.
6. On style, Obama won hands down in a format that was supposed to favor McCain. Where Obama displayed his mastery in showing sympathy (he feels your pain) and came across as serious, McCain often was awkward, sounding out of breath as he paced the stage, and looking creepy when he smiled.
Vice Presidential Debate: The Republican highlight of the past week, Sarah Palin put in a strong performance, shattering expectations. Just as noteworthy, Sen. Joe Biden did not make a fool of himself.
1. Palin was clear, confident, and relaxed, and she never appeared to be in over her head. On the economy, she was clearer than McCain, hitting Obama and Biden for advocating "redistribution" of wealth as well as "government-run" healthcare. Still, she called for more "sound oversight" of the economy.
2. Biden, like Obama, hammered away on the need for more regulation.
3. On foreign policy, Palin was not impressive, but nor was she embarrassing as Democrats had hoped and Republicans had feared. Biden, meanwhile, showed his competence on the issue.
4. The Biden-Palin matchup was more substantive than either of the presidential contests so far.
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