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Echoes of Kennedy-Nixon, Clinton-Dole

We all know about the difference between the responses of those who listened to the first Kennedy-Nixon debate on the radio versus those who watched it on television. I did both last night and the same was true.
Terrence McNally
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Podcast host/producer, communications consultant

Podcast host/producer, communications consultant
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  • We all know about the difference between the responses of those who listened to the first Kennedy-Nixon debate on the radio versus those who watched it on (a small, black & white) television. I did both last night and the same was true.

I recall Frank Luntz earlier this year saying that he would caution McCain to minimize being seen in the same camera shot with Obama. The contrast of age and "vigor" would be too stark. Watching the two of them out on the open floor last night in the faux "town hall" format brought his warning to life. The difference was visual and visceral. The tall, lanky, young Obama smooth and confident versus the shorter, tighter, older McCain.

  • On MSNBC's Hardball, someone (perhaps Jonathan Alter) said this debate reminded him of a moment in '92, Dole v Clinton, when you knew it was over -- unless something huge were to happen. They speculated about an October surprise, and Chris Mathews said it was hard to figure who "the bad guys" wanted to win this time -- or even how the public would react if bin Laden somehow intervened.

  • I watched on CNN where a graph runs at the bottom of the screen throughout the debate showing the emotional responses of a group of undecided voters in Ohio. I hope these "undecideds" get to vote because the positive responses overwhelmingly favored Obama. There were two separate graphs, one for women, one for men -- both preferred him, though the women preferred him more.

  • Except for watching the physical movement and the graph, this was to me a pretty boring debate. Both improved their performances over the first one, but this is getting awfully repetitious. I realize repetition works -- if not for viewers like me, for those who are forming their impressions watching these debates. Still it seems the candidates would keep it fresher for themselves -- and thus generate greater authenticity, energy, and be more attractive -- if they tried not to repeat certain phrases, slogans, and whole sentences within the same debate.

  • Any sense that some may have had in the first debate that McCain belonged on the presidential stage more than the young upstart seemed to have disappeared in this one. They felt like acknowledged equals this time -- whether McCain thinks so or not.

  • Like so many others, I expected McCain to attack Obama. My biggest question prior to the debate was not whether or how McCain would attack, but how the Obama camp planned to respond. I assumed they had a script. At what point? With what tone? With what phrases? I imagined them careful to strike a balance so that Obama would come off not as an angry Black man but as someone who stands up for himself and demands respect.

    • It never happened.

    Obama 1. McCain 0. Events coming to bat.

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