Eye Contact Is Un-American

Poor Jim Lehrer.

All he wanted was some presidential eye-contact last night during the debates. After the months of smears and vicious ads, Jim pleaded for Obama and McCain to man-up and be forthright with one another.

The candidates seem mystified by their disciplinarian's insistence they they address each other like human beings and not robots regurgitating their programming codes.

LEHRER: Say it directly to him.

OBAMA: I do not think that they are.

LEHRER: Say it directly to him.

OBAMA: Well, the -- John, 10 days ago, you said that the fundamentals of the economy are sound. And...

MCCAIN: (to Lehrer) Are you afraid I couldn't hear him?

LEHRER: I'm just determined to get you all to talk to each other. I'm going to try.

No such luck. What Jim (and the American people) got were two politicians doing what politicians do best -- reciting their stump speeches, and for the most part, trying to avoid the blade of a snappy comeback.

McCain got to repeat his snarky lines about hunting down deviant politicians and writing down their names on his revenge list, and Obama spat up his painful go-to line about Main Street versus Wall Street.

Obama didn't even raise an eyebrow when McCain professed his love for the troops, even though McCain opposed the G.I. bill that would have expanded benefits for veterans.

Obama surrogates love to talk about what a classy gent their boss is, which is why he didn't want to deliver a "Gotchya" moment at McCain. But if Obama can't nail McCain on mirroring the behavior of one of the most despised administrations in the history of the country, the Democrats are doomed come November.

The Democrats needed a firm leader, who arrived outraged on behalf of a country gone to hell. What they got was a gentleman with a fine memory, who largely repeated the same message he's been delivering for half a year.

It makes one long for the presence of Ralph Nader, who at least would have stirred the pot and forced Obama to push his political message left. Nader's presence may have even put Obama on offense instead of the pathetic, stumbling defense where he muttered "That's not true," as McCain blasted him with a mixture of half-truths and lies.

Alas, not even McCain had enough energy to make this debate interesting. It looked like John was using every ounce of his iron-clad will just not to die on his feet. I don't even think he looked mean like some pundits are claiming. Instead, he also looked pathetically weak and apathetic.

In an election promising to be about "hope" and "change," we got a lukewarm argument like every other debate come before it.

Comments

[Dunelm]

Yet another person writing this post underestimates the intelligence of Barack Obama. I think Obama knew exaclty what he was doing. If he had sounded outraged, he would have gratified his base, who will be there for him no matter what! At the same time, he would have probably alienated the undecideds. He was being consistent, and demonstrated that he is not a hot head (in comparison to the hot-headed maverick). Obama had to show that he has a different temperament to McCain. Additionally, I think Obama has a sense of timing--believe me, he will express the right kind of anger in the right way at the opportune moment. I think we must understand that so many people are prejudiced. Obama would have been harshly criticized if he had appeared in his very first debate as an angry, young black man. In sum, he knows what he is doing, so please have some confidence in him.

[milo9]

McCain's lack of eye contact I believe has to do with his age. Turning to Obama would appear ratchety and would have exposed his age related immobility.

As has been said here many times, Obama doesn't want to be percieved as beating up a senior citizen. Hopefully he'll increase the pressure in the next two debates.

[XME]

Given the audience Obama needed to reach, the undecideds who are primarily down the middle, I think he did exactly what he needed to do, and I think he did fine.

This debate wasn't about those on the right or those on the left. Their mnds are made up, and nothing will change them. Obama was right to focus on what he needed to do to attact the undecided voters. He paid attention to what those voters wanted to see and hear from the candidates (nonpartisanship, decency, stength to be commander in chief, etc.), and he spoke to them very well.

[ohioan73]

I suppose there are one or two things Obama could have said to diminish the faltering confidence of McCain and make him a little more shaken for the next debate, but:

Barack Obama is a black man and this is America. The "Angry black man" stereotype is sitting there dormant and waiting. Personally, I think its been a big success for Obama to retain his natural image of calm, cool, collectiveness in a country where people (bigots) would be inclined to believe that he is the harbinger of "slave revolt" or that he would enact some sort of "black revenge". Obama hasn't an angry, vengeful bone in his body, but we see how easily that can be turned because there are sick people by the millions who still believe black people are all alike.

There are no other huge personal scandals to pin on Obama. He's only had one marriage. He's got no "baby mamas", no extra-marital affairs...so nobody can pin on him the "over-sexed" black male stereotype, (although plenty of white male political figures have been guilty of these things) and this is very frustrating for the McCain camp.

The only stereotype that could stick to Obama, if he were inclined to take the advice of Dem. pundits, is the angry black man and I don't think he's foolish enough to play into the hands of dirty Repugs.

[YankeeCanuck]

We have to acknowledge that the rules of engagement are different for Obama. He absolutely cannot afford to appear angry.
He did look at and address his opponent, but there was no recognition by McCain. He chose to act dismissive.
Yes, some opportunities were missed. But Obama must proceed with extreme caution. That's just how it works, even in the 21st c.

Interesting take, but he still looked good next to an irrelevant angry old man.

[DarthVector]

You are looking at this as though it is your opinion that counts. Wrong.

Independent voters are the key this year, and they are breaking 60:40 or better in favor of Obama after the debate.

They want a candidate who talks to the issues, not the point-scoring.

[jayburd]

Please. You sound like a naïve college kid. Ralph Nader couldn't even compete with a self important actor and an ignorant right wing hack on Bill Maher's show Friday night, so what makes you think he could even hold Obama's jock in a debate?

And I don't care what anybody says, evoking Main St. vs. Wall St. is no cringe inducing cliché - it's damned effective. Obama rightly pointed out today that John McCain never even mentioned the middle class during the debate. He never even paid them lip service. That will come back to haunt McCain in the next debate and Barack will nail him in the final debate. Remember, this was only the first of 3 debates. It's typical to pull your punches until the last debate. And many many punches will come from Obama in that final debate, you watch...

[harriscrl3]

I'm so tired of people thinking that they KNOW what Obama needs to be doing better than Obama knows what he needs to be doing and yet he is where he is. He is not a Kerry and He is not a Gore what he is is an African American candidate. Five different people can come up with five different ideas on what Obama needs to be doing and most of it is contradictory and yet he is still here. He can't be like John McCain he cant be meaner than John McCain angrier than John McCain negative than John McCain he can't be Kerry he cant be Gore. He has to be Barack Obama. He is not running a shor term campaign he is running for the long term.

The American people are not as stupid as pundits think even more so when it comes to veterans they pay attentin they vote on issues they KNOW John McCain is they dont need Obama to tell them that and if he does he is walking a slippery slope.

Carol

[JoDeeVa]

harriscrl3 (Carol)...
I'm an Obama supporter, yet I am troubled by your premise that he NOT be open to the opinions/ questions of those who support him, are considering doing so or most especially, those Independent voters. It is that kind of blind support, without question of the Bush administration that brought us the last 8 years..and, that will win the election for McCain, if Obama does not challenge him!

Barack Obama should welcome those challenges. Not all of his supporters agree on all aspects of his campaign or agenda for the country and they have every right to voice their opinion. Rule and action by consensus considers diverse options, as it should..not absolute rule without room for dissent or differing opinions.

There WERE lost opportunities in the debate for Obama to address some of the very issues Kilkenny notes in this blog. In his appearance/ interview today with Bob Schieffer, he DID actually address some of them. Yes, he is less confrontational and I respect him for an attribute that will serve him well as President. But, he cannot appear to be unaware of or unwilling to debate McCain on crucial issues for the sake of not being negative. Otherwise, he is just preaching to the choir and we are NOT the ones he needs to reach to win this election!

[ProudLiberalDan]

People are merely expressing their opinions. Obama is not a saint nor a political messiah. He is a human being running for President, and therefore will occasionally make a mistake like any other human being.

If some Obama supporter finds offensive or tiresome people giving their free and unsolicited advice on a blog comment on a website, I suggest that person stop complaining, read something else, and do what Team Obama does with 99.99% of what it posted on the internet about the campaign -- ignore it.

We don't need a President who can only surround himself with "yes men" and synchopants who think that person can do no wrong. We already have one of those.

[kristycu]

for one i don't think obama surrounds himself with "yes men" and Obama is the first one to tell you he is not perfect- all she was trying to say, people are around her are talking about what obama should do like this is an election just like every other and it is not, you have, age, race and sex, in this race- the dynamics are differennt so techniques that might have worked last election will not work as much. and believe me he doesn't ignore everything, when people wanted him to become more aggressive he listened and he did.

[cactusgal]

Amen to every word you wrote. Obama knows exactly what he's doing and he's acting superbly presidential. It wasn't necessary for him to raise an eyebrow or smirk every time McCain lied or said something stupendously ignorant during the debate. We, the viewers, were doing that for him.

[HadEnoughCrap]

It was McCain's 'smirking' and aggressive behavior that helped Obama receive all the thumbs up after the debate.

[justaskinman]

Please never mention Nader again. He's not insightful, funny, provocative or in any way a patriot. He's a narcissist and directly responsible for the Bush disaster.

[YankeeCanuck]

Nader may have been a spoiler in the last election, and he may have become irrelevant (yes and narcissistic)now.
But as a consumer advocate he has been a critic of the auto industry for decades. He has taken on really important issues like environmental degradation, who runs Congress, the protection of whistleblowers, problems in nursing homes, the FDA, nuclear weapons.
Dissent is patriotic when the administration of one's country needs to be held accountable.
He has been a patriot, even if his recent motives have been questionable.

[harriscrl3]

WORD to everything you say particularly the narcissistic part

Carol

[mjtaylor22]

Obama's a very even tempered persaon overall. He is not a cowboy he is a father and a parent and like many Americans has to show patience and understanding on a day to day basis.
I do want him to be more forceful from time to time, but I understand this as a "fine line" he has to walk.
The last thing he would ever want to do is to even show a hint of appearance of an "Angry Black Man" Mrs Obama has mistakenly been characterized as angry by the RNC and McCain camp and I know this is a horrible twiting of the facts. unfortunately once that poison pill is dropped, it is almost impossible to rid that characture from some people's minds.

Had Obama been anrgy, condescending, and belligerent as John McCain was, the RNC and McCAin camp would have ate it up and the news would be spinning it for weeks on end.
I believe he (Obama)needs to end his sentences with stronger words to point out the many short ocmings of McCAin.
An example is when he spoke on McCain's tax cuts to corporations equling $300 billion. Obama should have simply ended his sentence with the fact that this tax code that does minimal for working Americans and is definitely a gift to the companies making 10 of billions of dollars every three months
SHOW'S MCCAIN'S FRIGHTENING LACK OF "JUDGEMENT" on McCain's part.

[erin2008]

Ms. Kilkenny,

The debate was for the TV audience. With that in mind, Senator Obama was debating to tighten up his supporters sure, but more so to bring in the undecided and independents to help them see how presidential he is. He clearly held his own with intelligence, toughness, and grace. He won hands down from an audience standpoint.

McCain was beligerent and contemptuous. His refusal to not look at Obama was uncalled for and hardly presidential. His smirking, twitching, and winking was uncalled for when Obama was speaking. The audience "got " that.

[chrisberge72]

As we heard today from both sides of the aisle, Obama didn't need to direct any attention to the fact that McCain couldn't look him in the eye. It was painfully obvious to every audience member no matter what their party affiliation. The "knockout punch" needs to come from something with a little more substance than a physicality of McCain's. I think it was right for Obama to just allow McCain to continue that immature behavior rather than call attention to it.
Something that I also believe benefited Obama was his ability to agree with McCain on some issues. At first I flinched every time Obama said that McCain was right on something. But in the end I think that it illustrated Obama's ability to reach across party lines; agreeing on one aspect of an issue doesn't detract from the fact that you fundamentally disagree with someone on the crux of the issue. I don't think we know yet how big a victory this debate is for Obama. I do think that the McCain camp should be worried about how well Obama held his own on national security and foreign affairs. McCain is only going to get hotter under the collar in future debates which is something we can all look forward to.

[Imago]

John McCain "loves" vets? He has a hell of a funny way of showing it:

John McCain's voting record on Vet support:
http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/07/10/mccain-lies-to-vet-about-voting-record/3

John McCain's record on blocking inquiry into MIA's:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081006/schanberg

(With a provocative question at the end of the article wondering if McCain's urge to bury MIA inquiry comes from his shame over his taped confession.)

John McCain, "lover" of vets, war hero, POW. Oh, did you catch the fact he was a POW? In case you missed it, this is why he can't remember how many houses he owns. He was a POW. For five years, he didn't have a house. Or a table. Or a chair...

John McCain, in the conclusion of his book, "Faith of My Fathers"...
"...I did not want my experiences in Vietnam to be the leitmotif of the rest of my life ... "

Indeed.

[rosal]

Another "pundit" and "expert" the reason why I don't watch TV anymore.

[allonfla]

Didn't the comment about his love for the troops come at the very end of the debate. Yes, I'm in the tank for Obama but where did you see the time to get back at McCain on that comment? Would it not have been better to have ended both of their sides on a positive note instead of an attack that Obama wouldn't even have time to finish? Aren't their two more debates? AND ENOUGH with the show more outrage demands! Obama was strong and agressive and countered many of McCains's arguments very well. He wasn't exactly planting kisses on his behind ya know. In addition, let us all stop pretending that we could have done better while we are sitting at home without 60 million hanging on to every word you say and where every word you say or every move you make could cost you the election. And Ralph Nader, seriously, yeah whatevuh!