McCain Dominates Saddleback Forum

Not sure how many people actually saw this forum, given that the Olympics were on opposite, but last night, Obama and McCain took turns answering Rick Warren's questions at the Saddleback mega-church. Below is a story from NBC News -- a media outlet that is 100% in the tank for Obama. Even NBC's correspondent admits that McCain gave the superior performance, making one think that Obama truly faceplanted. I listened to big chunks of it, and let me tell you, Obama gave a series of indirect, highly nuanced answers to fairly straightforward questions. These types of lawyer-esque answers leave you guessing at what he really means. They are dodgy and evasive, with many outs. They are John Edwards style answers. In contrast, you know where you stand with McCain -- he gave concise, content-filled, direct answers.

For instance, Obama says he defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, then not less than 10 seconds later admits to not supporting legislation which would further that definition. In another instance, he says he does not promote abortion, but then dodges the question when asked how many bills he has voted for that limit abortion. Just typical fancy footwork and weasel words from Obama last night. Why can't he give a direct answer? The answer is that his out-of-the-mainstream fundamental views on key issues will be exposed for all to see.

If this forum is a prelude to the future debates, expect to see McCain continue to titty-whip the novice.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/08/16/1270330.aspx

MCCAIN'S BACK IN THE SADDLEBACK

From NBC's Chuck Todd
Normally, on a night like tonight, we here at First Read would have been liveblogging every moment of Rick Warren's presidential forum. But with the Olympics and the fact this is THE Saturday Michael Phelps will be making history, we kept our liveblogging in check.

It turns out, actually, we should have been because this was a pretty good scrimmage and there's a lot to learn from these back-to-back appearances by John McCain and Barack Obama.

Quick first impressions: Obama spent more time trying to impress Warren (or to put another away) not offend Warren while McCain seemingly ignored Warren and decided he was talking to folks watching on TV. The McCain way of handling this forum is usually the winning way. Obama may have had more authentic moments but McCain was impressively on message.

This was a mistake Obama made a few times during the primary season. On one hand, it can make a moderator feel good when their subject actually tries to answer every question and take into account their opinions on a particular topic. And Obama's supporters will email me tonight and say this is what they love about him.

And yet, this reminded me of the many comparisons we made between Obama and Hillary Clinton. She was much more effective at answering questions in 90 seconds and always staying on message while Obama too easily allowed himself to get knocked off his talking points. Remember, Obama doesn't need to win over his supporters, he needs folks who are just now tuning in.

Take the VERY first question Warren posed to both candidates: who are three people you'll depend on for wisdom in the presidency. Obama seemed to answer this in a very personal way, talking about his wife and grandmother. McCain went right to this message, checking boxes on Iraq (Patraeus) and the economy (Whitman) for instance. Now, I'm betting Obama's answer came across as more authentic but McCain's was probably more effective with undecided swing voters.

The two answered the Supreme Court justice question VERY differently, with Obama seemingly trying to say a nice thing or two about justices he disagreed with, while McCain went right to pander mode in his answer. And yet, McCain's straightforward answer easily penetrated while Obama's did not.

Every Obama answer was certainly thoughtful enough but he seemed to want to explain himself too much and went out of his way not to offend folks who disagree with him.

Don't get me wrong, this will play well with some but McCain's directness and snappy answers that were on message allowed him to look commanding on that stage.

Warren may come away from this experience liking Obama more and respecting the fact that he seemed to take pains to not offend him and respect their disagreements. But I'm betting that if a focus group of undecided voters were watching this, they'd come away having a clearer understanding of McCain's beliefs.

Overall, this was a fascinating event because the contrast between the two candidates was so clear. The quesitons were made to order of McCain in the early going and that allowed him to get comfortable quickly. This was always going to be a tough venue for any Democrat, including one who is as comfortable talking about his faith as Obama is.

Obama better be thankful for the timing of this; he seemed a little rusty and clearly has some work to do before he meets McCain face-to-face on Sept. 26, the night of the first presidential debate in Oxford, MS.

 

That's 100% on the money. How many dozens, no hundreds, of times did Obama say "uh" as he stalled and floundered around for a politically correct answer? Wow. It's not hard to tell when someone is being evasive and hiding something. Not hard at all, friends.

For as much as I disagreed with Hillary on the issues, I at least respected the fact that she shot straight. She gave informed answers that were direct. Barry Soetoro does no such thing. Barry needs to work on this, as the undecideds haven't fallen for the hopey-make-changey marketing spiel. They want information. And as we saw in Clinton v. Obama, the undecideds broke for Hillary in devastatingly high numbers (4:1 approximately, I believe). If that happens in the General, you've got a McCain landslide. That's why Obama's advisors are suggesting that he start giving more information behind his 'Hope' (or is it Hype?) mantra.

 

The consensus opinion from virtually every media outlet is that McCain not only won the debate, but did so in impressive fashion. Here is one article (of about 10 that I could post) that articulates it well.

McCain As Good As Obama Was Bad
Mark Hemingway

I don't want to get to overheated about what occurred tonight, but I do think McCain had a clear and decisive victory over Obama. It all comes down to something that Phil Bredesen, the Democratic governor of Tennessee recently said about Obama: “Instead of giving big speeches at big stadiums, he needs to give straight-up 10-word answers to people at Wal-Mart about how he would improve their lives.”

By that standard, McCain did extremely well and Obama did very poorly. McCain's answers were direct, confident and, most importantly, serious. When asked about what leaders he would consult as president, he first suggested Gen. Petraeus, architect of the surge, who he correctly praised as one of America's all-time great military leaders. By way of contrast, Obama suggested he would seek out the advice of a typical white person, er, his grandmother and his wife Michelle, who's still trying to decide whether she's proud of her country.

When asked "At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?," McCain answered "At the moment of conception." Obama's answer here was flaming-dirigible bad:

Whether you are looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity is, you know, above my pay grade.

That spectacularly inept metaphor is going to haunt Obama throughout the rest of the campaign. News flash: There's not a job on the planet above the pay grade of the President of the United States. If you can't solve every problem and are humble about it, that's fine — but you can't get away with being unsure about the most defining moral issue in politics. Of course, he didn't put down the shovel:

But let me speak more generally about the issue of abortion. Because this is something, obviously, the country wrestles with. One thing that I’m absolutely convinced of is that there is a moral and ethical element to this issue. And So I think that anybody who tries to deny the moral difficulties and gravity of the abortion issue is not paying attention.

So after completely hedging on the question and declining to give a specific answer — he wants to speak "more generally" about the issue? And, lo and behold, speak more generally he does: "I’m absolutely convinced of is that there is a moral and ethical element to this issue." In related news, Obama is also "absolutely convinced" that the sky is blue, water is wet and puppies are adorable. None of this, however, tells me a thing about his judgment and moral worldview.

But what bowls me over about how craptacular his answer here is, did no one on his campaign ever anticipate that he would have to talk about abortion, such that he could come up with a better answer than this? Surely they would have had to expect it at this forum in particular.

His answer here was in many ways reminiscent of last April, where he imploded in his last debate with Hillary. He was asked to respond to his then-recent clinging to God n' guns remark. He totally botched the answer and, like this evening, it seemed as if he was totally unprepared for the question that would most obviously be asked.

But I also think that it's worth noting that Obama wasn't just bad, but that McCain was very good. He was the perfect balance of likable and serious. He also came across as informed, offered far more policy specifics than Obama, highlighted his faith as was appropriate to the setting, and almost everything he said bolstered his conservative credentials. (His comments on taxes and what it means to be "rich" were especially good in that regard.) I'd wager that for a lot of conservatives watching, McCain went from the enemy of my enemy to someone they felt good about voting for. He may yet foul that up, but I suspect he may be riding high for a while after tonight.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NGIwYmQwNjVlNDAwYjRlOGFkOGViMzdhYTgwMjg3MDg

 

Obama's 'personal faith'? Are you referring to his 20+ years of being an Atheist, or his 20 years learning under Pastor Jeremiah Wright? (for everyone's sanity, I'm leaving out the years of being Muslim here) Not exactly a sterling track record of 'personal faith'. Few evangelicals will blindly throw their support behind a candidate who is pro-abortion. Obama's total dodge of the abortion question last night (above his pay grade, lol), was met with groans, not cheers.