The Second Presidential Showdown: Kinda Boring, My Friends

Last night, in Nashville, Tennessee, the candidates in what could be one of the most important presidential elections ever clashed for the second time. And there was passion, there were bold, firm statements of position, there were explosive accusations, and at one point McCain and Obama got into a light-saber fight.

By John

Man. I wish. Actually, the second presidential debate was pretty boring, especially compared to the mud-fight we got when Palin and Biden duked it out. So what happened last night? The candidates mostly stuck to the same guns they’ve been waving all election: McCain pounding home his foreign policy experience (and his opponent’s lack thereof) and Obama preferring to stick to what many see as a more “in-touch” attitude on domestic concerns. Lots of stump speech sound bites were recycled, and, as usual, there wasn’t that much actual debate.

McCain started the night in a rougher place than before, as the flailing economy and sliding poll numbers gave the Republican senator plenty of ground to catch up on.

It wasn’t a problem for him overall, though; he managed to fight Obama to a standstill on most issues, (including the economy, and it’s hard going being a Republican on the economy today), and nobody blew themselves out of the water with embarrassing gaffes. Nothing last night is going to change the dynamic of the race, though, and that’s not terribly good news for McCain.

Some particularly good (or bad) moments for each candidate:

THUMBS UP:

- Obama connecting with the people. During the audience questions, Obama fielded one on the bailout from “Oliver” pretty handily: “Well, Oliver, first, let me tell you what’s in the rescue package for you. Right now, the credit markets are frozen up and what that means … is that small businesses and some large businesses just can’t get loans. If they can’t get a loan, that means that they can’t make payroll. If they can’t make payroll, then they may end up having to shut their doors and lay people off. And if you imagine just one company trying to deal with that, now imagine a million companies all across the country.” Simple — perhaps too simple — but an effective way to turn an abstract issue into a real chummy sort of thing, and a nice response to silence critiques that Obama is too “professorial”.

- McCain’s snappy response on whether he’d wait for the approval of the UN Security Council before aiding Israel in the event of a military crisis. This debate featured lots of qualifiers to stances and lots of question-dodging. Like it or not, McCain’s definitive answer — “let me say that we obviously would not wait for the United Nations Security Council” — was a welcome moment of clarity, especially when contrasted to Obama’s milquetoast response involving “using all the tools at our disposal.” The “Straight Talk Express” shtick carried McCain through the primary, and more moments like this would have helped his performance.

- McCain’s cute jokes. Obama’s got the style game all sewn up, but McCain does have a certain gravelly charisma when he loosens up a bit. “Hey, I’ll answer the question,” he quipped after a particularly long-winded Obama response, and while it’s pretty obvious that nobody really answers questions straight-on in a presidential debate anyway, McCain managed to sound a lot more appealing when his smiles came easily.

-Obama sets his priorities. Stealing a little bit of the Straight Talk thunder, Obama was up-front about his priorities: environment first, health care second, education third. McCain dodged the same question, responding, as if in a fairy tale, that “we can do them all at once”.

THUMBS DOWN

-Obama makes faces. Obama spent a lot of time fuming after particularly pointed McCain barbs — the issue of tax reform in particular had him clearly riled up. Righteous rage is appealing sometimes, but it often looked as if McCain had a better handle on his own body language between questions.

-McCain’s less-cute jokes. “Did we hear the size of the fine?” interjected McCain, after Obama discussed his tax plan. We get it, Obama never stated it explicitly, but shoving a joke in at the end of the opposing side’s rebuttal just felt petty. Similarly, the crack about how nice it was to finally see Obama in a town-hall setting felt petulant and bitter.

THUMBS EH?

-Obama defers to Michelle. “What don’t you know and how will you learn it?” went the last question. Obama’s response? “My wife, Michelle, is there and she could give you a much longer list than I do. And most of the time, I learn it by asking her.” Am I the only person that thought Obama was referring to his prowess in the sack? I am? Okay. Fine.

-McCain has many heroes. Invoking the GOP greats is a fine strategy, but both President Reagan and Teddy Roosevelt were “my hero” at different points in the night, according to McCain. I’m surprised he didn’t go further: remember, Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. Or how about pioneer of laissez-faire economics Adam Smith? Or why not me? I’m great. Sheesh.