Posted on 08/17/2008 11:05:33 PM PDT by ricks_place
It is now clear why Barack Obama has refused John McCain's offer of joint town hall appearances during the fall campaign. McCain is obviously better at them.
Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency -- two hours on Saturday night evenly divided between the relaxed, tieless candidates -- was expected to be a sideshow. McCain and Obama would make their specialized appeals to evangelicals as if they were an interest group such as organized labor or the National Rifle Association...
What took place instead under Warren's precise and revealing questioning was the most important event so far of the 2008 campaign -- a performance every voter should seek out on the Internet and watch.
First, the forum previewed the stylistic battle lines of the contest ahead, and it should give Democrats pause. Obama was fluent, cool and cerebral -- the qualities that made Adlai Stevenson interesting but did not make him president. Obama took care to point out that he had once been a professor at the University of Chicago, but that bit of biography was unnecessary. His whole manner smacks of chalkboards and campus ivy. Issues from stem cell research to the nature of evil are weighed, analyzed and explained instead of confronted.
...
Second, the Warren forum demonstrated how difficult it will be for Obama to appeal to religious and conservative voters as the campaign proceeds...
...
Obama's response on abortion -- the issue that remains his largest obstacle to evangelical support -- bordered on a gaffe. Asked by Warren at what point in its development a baby gains "human rights," Obama said that such determinations were "above my pay grade" -- a silly answer to a sophisticated question.
...
Finally, McCain's performance at the Warren forum helps change the political psychology going into the conventions...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
From WP? Stuning.
Just finished watching the entire rebroadcast on CNN. McCain seemed to answer from heartfelt conviction, Obama from calculation on political benefit verses harm. John McCain’s performance was head and shoulders above Obama. The polls will reflect and Obama will be doing damage control for the forseeable future.
Not so much. It's an op-ed column by Gerson, who was Bush's main speech writer for years.
It was genuinely satisfying to see McCain defend religious and patriotic values so forthrightly.
Wish he understood the Constitution and the Bill of Rights...
He is sure about human rights beginning at conception, so it is sad that he is so ignorant of what those rights are.
man! Is that scathing or what?
Keep up the hope re: the VP yes?
The thing is did anyone watch it? Olympics, Olympics, Olympics.
Obama was rather dull and uninspiring. His answers were too long, flowery, and unfulfilling; I expected him to be pulling out all the stops and completely prepared. You know, the brilliant orator we are constantly told he is. His abortion answer was pathetic. He HAD to know this was coming, how could he be so ILL-prepared to handle it? He did not win any pro-lifers over with that answer. I could see even Rick Warren, who I personally do not trust, was even leaning away from him with that answer.
John McCain, on the other hand, came across as someone with a rich history, life-changing experiences, and basically HUMAN. His answers, peppered with personal anecdotes made him much more likable. I found myself really warming to him.
When Obama answered that his most difficult moral dilemma was going against the Iraq invasion, I wanted to scream at my TV. He wasn't even PART of that discussion, as he wasn't even in the US Senate at the time. Who was this moral stand against—his bridge club?
It is so obvious why Obama won't do Townhalls with him, McCain would chew him up and spit him out.
But I have the popcorn *just in case* we get to see one.
I have said all a long that if McCain has any political savy at all, he will shift to the right during this campaign. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what conservatives didn’t like about his nomination.
Obama's response on abortion -- the issue that remains his largest obstacle to evangelical support -- bordered on a gaffe. Asked by Warren at what point in its development a baby gains "human rights," Obama said that such determinations were "above my pay grade" -- a silly answer to a sophisticated question.That's all for him.
I hear your point loud and clear.
However...
Try to get any major media exposure on that!
GBWU
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
He has a serious lack of experience to draw upon. Few, if any points, in his life has he taken a stand on principle rather than political posturing. He is an empty vessel with empty promises of unspecific change.
Any direct question that tries to pin him down on what he has done or what he will do on a controversial topic will be met with "um, ahh, well..." followed by a few carefully chosen words which commit him to no specific path other than a general vision of the Utopian destination.
MSM won’t cover it, as you said, but I’m not too sure that’ll matter. The people who he was trying to reach were listening, or will hear it online, and Obama blew it.
Fine and good.
However, rest NOT on your illumination.
It’s one thing to be confident in your understanding...
It’s quite another to believe others understand as well.
Kodl,D.A.
When Osbama does not have a teleprompter, sycophants, an audience clapping on cue like sea lions at a circus, and an lap dog press (shivers in my leg); he looks below average to poor.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Yes, that strikes me about this campaign—both candidates are moving to the right!
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
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