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Obama - McCain Debates
McCain has asked for a series of town hall debates with Obama. I personally like the Town Hall debate style so long as CNN doesn't plant questioners with trivial and demeaning questions they wrote.
However, Obama is a good debater both in town hall situations and in formal moderated debates. Yes, he had one bad debate, but that was the ABC moderators' obsession with trivia, not his performance itself. The thing is, McCain is only good in the town hall format.
Clearly, Obama should insist on several forms of debate, not just the one that shows McCain in his best light. McCain, however despicable his policies, is someone that people find likable and engaging. He connects with people on a personal level in some way. In town halls, he seems frank and honest. In more formal conditions, he is ill at ease and seems at best, inauthentic. More importantly, he seems dishonest.
Obama has no need to avoid town hall debates. He does well in them. Just don't let McCain shine at every debate by allowing them to be in the only format he can shine in.
However, Obama is a good debater both in town hall situations and in formal moderated debates. Yes, he had one bad debate, but that was the ABC moderators' obsession with trivia, not his performance itself. The thing is, McCain is only good in the town hall format.
Clearly, Obama should insist on several forms of debate, not just the one that shows McCain in his best light. McCain, however despicable his policies, is someone that people find likable and engaging. He connects with people on a personal level in some way. In town halls, he seems frank and honest. In more formal conditions, he is ill at ease and seems at best, inauthentic. More importantly, he seems dishonest.
Obama has no need to avoid town hall debates. He does well in them. Just don't let McCain shine at every debate by allowing them to be in the only format he can shine in.
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Exactly. I believe that there should be at least 3 formats of engagement. Debates and town halls are good. However, I believe that a few unmoderated direct discussions should be used as well. I am thinking that the candidates can ask each other questions. Of course, there would be some kind of rules but mostly just an open conversation. I believe that Obama will dominate this type of discussion as well. He is a good listener with a Socratic style of engagement that will shine through. I don't believe that McCain likes direct challenges and this will highlight that he has the same entitlement mentality that Clinton, Cheyney and Bush suffer from where they don't like their decisions questioned.
June 7, 2008 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree.. get the debates or town halls started soon but don't only give McCain his best format; make him step up into Obama's wheel house too!
June 7, 2008 7:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't forget, it's the issues, too, besides the two men.
The issues: The economy, our occupation of Iraq, the war in Afghanistan (remember that one?), the crimes that have been committed by the Republican party over the last seven years, and other hot points such as Roe V Wade.
June 7, 2008 8:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think they should be just like that debate on the last season of The West Wing.
June 7, 2008 10:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have nothing with town-hall style debates. I'd encourage a couple of them perhaps after the convention. My issue was always with McCain's proposal of one a week til the Dem. Convention. As you said. McCain likes the town hall format better, he does better. He's a horrible debater in any other setting. McCain is just looking to give himself a boost, since he knows he's running behind Obama right now. Doesn't conventional wisdom say that if someone's asking for a debate, they're most likely losing? Hmm...
June 8, 2008 3:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Look, McCain proposed town hall meetings because he has less money and less skill as debater or speaker. What McCain is good at are the spontaneous snappy one- or two-liners that seem fresh and honest but are really trivial and superficial.
I would like Obama to agree to town hall meetings, but I would suggest that each meeting stick to exactly one pre-decided topic. One town hall meeting devoted to the war in Iraq, one to health care, one to taxes and fiscal responsibility, one to the environment, one to poverty, one to the economy.
Let the two candidates prepare for substance on a single issue. Let the voters hear something beyond sound bites (from debates), rhetoric (from speeches), or one-liners (from current town hall meetings).
Get a venue that treats the issues as seriously as the voters do.
June 8, 2008 4:25 PM | Reply | Permalink