McCain Fails to Change Minds: Too Little, Too Late, Too Odd

To an online CNN poll yesterday, 85% of respondents said that "I have never had my mind changed about a candidate by a debate."

The second presidential debate of the '08 race was no exception: few voters likely changed their minds about either Obama or McCain, which is not good news for the beleaguered McCain campaign.

NBC News moderator Tom Brokaw's control-freak bids to be center of attention and to curb bona fide debate, though, probably cost him a few million fans.

Demeanor and Debate Format
The debate was held in a more casual town-hall format with questions from the audience, the format John McCain regards as his best venue.

McCain forgot, though, that unlike his town hall-style campaign stops, the official presidential debates aren't packed with only his cheering supporters. And he forgot that at this bipartisan town hall, the audience was oddly asked to display no human reactions or emotions whatsoever.

Perhaps due to flak over his last seethingly hostile debate performance, McCain made five or six strange attempts at apparent humor ( "hair transplants," "That one..."), only to be met with awkward silence that highlighted McCain's weirdness factor.

Jolhn McCain spoke almost constantly in snide, graceless tones and disdainful words, even dismissively assuming a under-40, African-American questioner had never heard of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

It made me wonder: do Republican strategists really believe that anger and snark are winning attributes to attract an electorate desperately looking for hope, help and leadership?

In contrast, Barack Obama's fresh earnestness and total lack of a funnybone played well in this response-free venue. And exercising self-discipline, Obama rarely strayed into his windbag professor persona.

Both candidates looked directly at questioners, moved easily on the forum floor, and responded semi-directly to most audience questions.

Bottom line: Obama came off as normal, calm, smart and well-informed, while McCain came off as cranky, odd, smart and well-informed. Neither seemed particularly warm or electrifyng.

Thankfully, both candidates deftly sidestepped Tom Brokaw's many ridiculous gotcha questions. ("This requires only a yes or a no... Do you think that Russia under Vladimir Putin is an evil empire?")

Indeed, Brokaw did everything in his power to drag down the intelligence of the debate. Blessedly, he failed.

Confronting the Issues
While both candidates had their strong moments on important issues, Obama's strong moments outnumbered those of McCain, especially on health care, income taxes and the Iraq War.

• Health Care - Obama probably "won" the debate when he responded that health care is a "right," as opposed to McCain who reluctantly dubbed it a "responsibility."

  Obama explained the basics of his health care plan, dissected McCain's mischaracterizations of his plan, and he rightfully called out McCain's hypocrisy on health care for children, stating:

  "... when Sen. McCain says that he wants to provide children health care, what he doesn't mention is he voted against the expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program that is responsible for making sure that so many children who didn't have previously health insurance have it now."

• Income Taxes - Obama was in-sync with the post-meltdown American mood when he called out McCain's tax plans:

  "Now, when Sen. McCain is proposing tax cuts that would give the average Fortune 500 CEO an additional $700,000 in tax cuts, that's not sharing a burden... it's tough to ask a teacher who's making $30,000 or $35,000 a year to tighten her belt when people who are making much more than her are living pretty high on the hog."

  McCain, condescendingly assuming that Joe Sixpack is unaware that the Republican wants to extend the rich Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest U.S. citizens, merely responded, "... let's not raise anybody's taxes." In contrast, Obama explained that he plans to implement tax cuts for 95% of taxpayers.

• The Iraq War - The vastly different worldviews of McCain and Obama were most evident on the subject of the Iraq War. Implying that Obama doesn't get it, McCain reiterated:

  "If we had done what Sen. Obama wanted done in Iraq, and that was set a date for withdrawal... I can tell you right now that Sen. Obama would have brought our troops home in defeat. I'll bring them home with victory and with honor... "

  To which Obama retorted with his most effective response, to date, to McCain on Iraq:

  "I don't understand how we ended up invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, while Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda are setting up base camps and safe havens to train terrorists to attack us. That was Sen. McCain's judgment and it was the wrong judgment."

Republican presidential nominee John McCain displayed strong knowledge and leadership on many foreign policy issues, athough Democrat Barack Obama equalled McCain in thoughtfulness and insight on all subjects.

McCain Didn't Do Enough to Stem His Sinking Poll Numbers
At the debate's end, McCain enjoyed a rare, warm mind-meld with a questioner, and orated touching remarks about his own patriotism and commitment to service.

But neither of those moments, nor anything else in this second '08 presidential debate, were sufficient to switch electoral momentum toward McCain and away from Obama.

Judging by how quickly John and Cindy McCain departed the debate forum, I assume McCain understood that he didn't score the knock-out punch he needed to stem his sinking poll numbers.

Barack and Michelle Obama stayed for over an hour, greeting and shaking hands with audience members, beaming gloriously... and looking like gracious winners.

Related Reading

• McCain Does His Best Archie Bunker Impersonation at First Debate
• Iraq War Results & Statistics at October 1, 2008
• From CNN: Transcript of second McCain, Obama debate

(All Getty Images photos taken on Oct 7, 2008. Photographers: #1, Justin Sullivan. #2 & #3, Charles Dharapak. #4, Scott Olson)