A Brief Guide to the Debates

In the first debate, Obama did what he needed to do: convince a majority that he has what it takes. But there is room for improvement.

1. Obama kept working within McCain's frames: Earmarks, tax policy, military policy as foreign policy, and so on. McCain would say something false using one of his frames, and Obama would be lured into correcting McCain in McCain's own frame and then stay in it. Rule 1: Change to your frame.

2. A simple thing: Instead of saying "I agree with Sen. McCain ...", Obama should try "Sen. McCain agrees with me that ... " The former frames McCain as setting the standard. The latter frames Obama as setting the standard. Or try " Sen. McCain and I agree" if you are stressing bipartisanship.

3. Obama's answers kept drifting off and falling in intonation at the end. Both beginnings and endings should be short and passionate.

4. Obama missed a great opportunity when McCain said he would freeze nonmilitary spending. A short, but powerful list of what would be cut and how it would affect people's lives could have been devastation. This can still be done however, even by Biden on Thursday.

5. McCain used "no second holocaust" to effect last week in courting the Jewish vote, which could be decisive in Florida. Obama and Biden need to use it, while pointing to Olmert's anti-bombing position along with Olmert's reasons.

6. Obama didn't take the opportunity to talk about foreign policy at the level of the person, not the state--about foreign policy issues like poverty, hunger, disease, clean water, women's oppression, ethnic cleansing, refugees, global economics, and so on. Military experience doesn't help with these vital issues, and McCain is inexperienced in them.

The reason the list is short is that Obama did so well.

The Democrats are assuming that Biden will win easily over Palin. I hope so, but Palin should not be underestimated. She is being tutored and much of what she will do should be obvious. She will attack Obama viciously, but with humor. I think she will come out as a populist identifying Obama and Biden with Wall Street and say that McCain improved the Paulson bill by going to Washington. She may argue that a corporate income tax cut will put money in the economy. That one's easy to rebut: corporations that need bailouts have losses not incomes and so cutting their taxes would be pointless. But such logical arguments won't carry the day with Conservative Populists. Biden will have to come on at the beginning as a populist attacking the need for such a bailout. Remember that polls among conservative populists are running more than 100-to-1 against. Also remember that conservative populists see liberals as elitists, and will see Biden negatively if he comes on as a policy wonk trying to upstage Palin on her ignorance about issues. Biden needs to be short, to the point, passionate, and should not forget the Big 5 reasons people vote for a presidential candidate: Values, Authenticity, Communication and Connection, Trust, and Identity. He has to undercut McCain on these, and support himself and Obama on them.

Again, look for the obvious from Palin: She will repeat "That's gotcha journalism" when asked embarrassing questions. She and McCain are the populist reformers fighting Wall street, indentifying Obama and Biden with Wall Street, and touting no taxpayer bailout, private insurance, cutting corporate taxes, cutting spending, the defense of Georgia from the Russians, and drilling to lower energy costs. She will drop the names of the leaders she met in NY at the UN. She will call Obama too liberal and an orator with no content. She will bring back Reverend Wright and Bill Ayers. She will talk about being pro-life and saving the family and the Second Amendment.

Biden will have to practice not falling into any of these frames, but responding (or if possible starting) with framing of his own that casts McCain in a bad light in all these cases and draws her into his framing. I assume those prepping him for the debate will have already told him all of this.

Biden should go after McCain. He should call him a Yes-man for Bush 90 percent of the time, especially on deregulation of Wall Street (which caused this economic crisis), on refusing to fund alternative energy, on starting the Iraq War and not going after Osama bin Laden, and on privatizing--and eventually ending--social security. A debate on whether McCain is Yes-Man will displace the maverick frame from public discourse.

Biden should go after McCain's gambling, and point out his gamble last week, which resulted in his messing up the bill to fix the economic crisis. In a crisis, you need a cool head, not an impulsive gambler. There should be a public discussion about McCain as a gambler.

Biden should not let McCain get away with his remark about freezing all spending except for the military and veterans. He should look at the audience and say, if you have a child who has or needs college loans, Sen. McCain will take them away. If your schools get federal funding for education, say for special needs, Sen McCain will eliminate it. If your town gets ......(fill in your favorites) , Sen. McCain will cut it -- and give your money instead via tax breaks to wealthy people and corporations who don't need it.

Biden should also go into the nonmilitary aspects of foreign policy, especially those at the level of the person: poverty, hunger, disease, water, ethnic cleansing, women's oppression, and so on. McCain has not experience working on such people-oriented issues, where military experience doesn't count.

Biden should criticize Palin for making women who've been raped pay for their own rape tests, on not being pro-life after birth because of her views of children's health care, on helping to raise the rate of teenage pregnancies and hence abortions by being against sex education, and on helping to bring back back-alley abortionists by supporting laws that would have the government interfere with the intimate decisions that only individual women should be making. Lack of sex education, lack of pre-and post-natal care, and bringing on the return of back-alley abortionists supports a culture of death, not life.

This is the opportunity to bring up Palin's Road to Nowhere, built from earmark funds, and going nowhere, routed through a nature preserve--a place that shouldn't even have roads.

Biden doesn't have to prove himself in this debate. Palin does have to prove herself. That means Biden can hold back, give short but powerful responses, and try to prevent gaffes.

Finally, there is "gotcha journalism." If Palin brings it up, the right response is that journalists have a job to do, to find out what candidates know and believe, and that experienced candidates know how to respond by communicating clearly what they really do know and do believe.

Comments

[DonDavis]

Please Barack, YOU Take Off the Gloves, and Throw These Five Knockout Punches
http://satiricalpolitical.com/?p=3782

[BillCarson]

Great article Dr. Lakoff.

The next debate wil be tuesday (Oct 7th) at Belmont Univ. in Nashville. The interesting part is that It will have a town hall format, which is supposedly McCain's strength.

Any suggestions for Obama, do's and don'ts for the town hall format?

[Imogene60]

Tonight, let's count how many times Palin uses the word "blink." As a psychologist, I suspect "blink" has a stronger emotional connection to the hindbrain - the so-called "Lizard brain." It goes straight to the limbic system and is designed to create fear. Someone, perhaps Karl Rove, has discovered that some words are more powerful than others. I think the word "blink" elicits fear in the listener. Things happen "in the blink of an eye". The word implies we're missed something that we haven't foreseen or haven't been able to control. Michael Moore said it best - the Bush administration has been all about eliciting fear. Keep "us" afraid and they can make "us" do anything.

[ohiovoter54]

BTW.... I'm not voting for Obama either. He had my vote until he voted for the bailout sham.

[CathrynF]

Mr. Lakoff is a genius! Wish he was on the Obama team!

[JuleeB]

I noticed that this was posted at 10am on Oct 2nd. Please, next time, Mr. Lakoff, at least give your excellent ideas to blog readers and more importantly, the Biden/Obama camp(!) early enough so that they have time to incorporate these ideas into their strategy.

That said, I think Biden did extremely well. But Palin also was trained to appear more knowledgeable than she really is. Do you think she was even remotely interested in these topics before two months ago...?

I hope we hear more from you before the next debate. And please, PLEASE, contact the Obama team directly with your expertise. We have no time to waste, and so much to lose.

[RussAbbott]

Whenever Palin cries "Gotcha journalism" or attacks someone for their comment or, a good response is to point out that she is "blaming the messenger" (to use a well-known frame) instead of dealing with the message.

Instead of answering the question or acknowledging her ignorance or error, she is attempting to change the subject. So attack her back about her tactics and then come back to the original point.

[feo]

Palin has so far shown herself to be qualified for Remedial Reading course and perhaps a course entitled English as a Second Language for Those Born In the United States. But no amount of Government for Dummies is going to help her.

[IneptitudePrideB4Fall]

I think Government for Dummies will indeed help Palin a lot. ReThugs keep saying that Palin's a quick study; she learns fast. I suspect that Palin will "perform" well in Thursday night's (tonight's)debate. What will that mean? It will mean Palin is indeed "a quick study" & "learns fast". She's an actress. So someone else is teaching Palin; she's not a leader. We already know she is a Know-Nothing and being a Know-Nothing tells us that Palin is NOT INTERESTED in national and foreign affairs.
Is it not SCARY that Palin is being told what to say? She wouldn't know what to say if someone else didn't tell her what to say. Scary! And dangerous!
Palin's "performance" at the debate will tell us nothing. We already know about her and what she lacks - interest and knowledge.
My question for Ifill to ask Palin: Who were your coaches? And can we hear the teaching, prompting, coaching tapes? We want to hear!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[cityslkrz]

Is George Lakoff working with Obama/Democrats so they can use these bits of genius?

[ProfessorDuh]

George Lakoff is like a non-evil Frank Luntz.

[scottman1085]

Prof, You are so non-judgemental. I have read your stuff, you never call anyone any names. What an example for the world.

Thanks.

[walkthewalk]

This will be not be a fair fight. Palin is permitted to hit below the belt and Biden is not able to punch back. Palin is able to cry "rape" for some unseen and undelivered faux offense by Biden. (The McCain/Palin campaign is big on faux outrage.) Biden does not need to say or do anything wrong to be subtly accused by Palin of trying to demean her. Should she take faux offense, Biden needs to point out his leadership role in passing a bill to help female victims of abuse and make clear that claiming abuse where there has been none only hurts real victims.

Palin has proven she can be lethal when scripted and prepped with back stabbing lines. Should she deliver these lines convincingly tonight, I still maintain that it doesn't qualify her to be V.P., or President of the U.S.A. She has never shown any interest or aptitude on issues that affect people outside of Alaska. She is incurious. She is unknowledgeable. She is unaware of her own ineptness to hold the office she seeks. Put her on stage in Juno, perhaps, but never on the world stage. This is not a time for amateurs.

[Anthrofreak]

I just don't think that snarky attacks on Obama is going to make her a winner. All it did was make McCain look bad. But I guess there is a double standard in place for Blunder Woman. Biden doesn't need to win or prove himself. We know Biden. We know what to expect from him, a gaffe or two maybe, but a solid performance. We know what to expect from Palin too. Talking points, illogical, circular run-on sentences and vicious but muted attacks. Why are we all acting like we'll walk away surprised from whatever out come happens tonight and that any of it will seriously impact the presidential race?

I think Palin has the most to lose. She could fall flat on her face and be exposed for the know nothing she is. Or maybe she'll impress us with really great pageant answers. Quick study? Maybe. Qualified? Don't think so.

[Unsui]

Wow, what a great post.

I had thought that Obama performed very well on Friday night, but I can see that he would have been much more effective if he had been able to strike in the ways Lakoff suggests.

I really, really hope that Biden's people read this post!

[Clairvaux]

"The Democrats are assuming that Biden will win easily over Palin. I hope so, but Palin should not be underestimated."

Palin, Fire, and Dangerous Things

[Ladyvoice]

What excellent advice and what great insight so that we can watch the debates with a new eye. I loved how gracious Obama was in the debate, yet imagine how much more effective he would have been by simply utilizing the technique in point #2.

Even the best speakers can learn something. Thanks for your post. I'll use some of your advice in future speaking engagements that I have.

[StickyStickyMcCain]

Agree with your advice for Biden, disagree with your advice for Obama. From what we have seen in the last 18 months, this has not been a classic texbook campaign, its has been abnormal. Therefore, it cannot be a textbook debate for Obama - and it won't be. It's all about perception and because debates do not exist in a vacuum - everything that is happeing right now - economically, globally, and the uncertain future. It really is an extra-ordinary time.

As far as Debates being game changers, they are not so anymore, because of the high interest and spotlights on the candidates, post debate and post convention. Candidates have to be on their toes 24/7 up until Nov. 4. There are more opportunities for Obama to express his policy issues like poverty, hunger, disease, clean water, women's oppression, ethnic cleansing, refugees, in places like Clintons Global Initiative Forum but on the other hand there are more opportunities for McCain and Palin, during these extra-ordinary times, to show their uncertainty, thus making people more uncomfortable about htme. In a sense, the more people that are interested in the campaign as it unfolds the less of a game changer the debates and even conventions, will be.

[BassMent]

You're on the money. Obama did not come off as someone who had practiced a "debate persona" and was then stuck with it whether it worked or not. He just sounded like he always sounds. Every one of the post-debate pundits thought the "I agree with senator McCain" thing was the beginning of the end of the Obama campaign. Look at the polls.

Also, I agree that McCain and, especially, Palin will have a multitude of opportunities to screw up between now and Nov 4. If Palin is the expert debater she's been made out to be, her campaign should have insisted on three debates with Biden! Instead, she has ONE CHANCE to do the scripted approach and recover some shred of credibility. Even if she succeeds (which is likely given the current height of the proverbial bar), the press is not going to be willing to just disappear and leave her alone for the next month. She's going to have to answer questions off the cuff, and she will continue to embarrass herself time after time.

The best thing for McCain would be if she bombed tonight, and was gone from the ticket by next week. She'll probably do well enough to justify keeping her, and then prove an albatross around McCain's neck between now and Nov. 4.