A recent poll by Gallup has shown that Obama has gained and maintained an 8% lead over McCain since Friday’s presidential debate. And while I have always perceived this lead to be a little more than 8% (since we’re in such a liberal area…), I believe that this lead has been maintained due to several factors
1. McCain’s VP pick of Sarah Palin: At first, I found this pick to be completely random. Then, people were buzzing about how Palin was actually a wise choice for the ticket. And after various speeches and interviews done by the pair, I’m starting to think that this may turn into a disaster. Considering John McCain’s slightly older age, I don’t think I’d feel comfortable with the governor of a small state with very little foreign policy experience ruling over our entire country. And watching the interview that Palin had with Katie Couric made me feel even more uneasy. Though I do think that SNL and other parodies have been slanted against McCain/Palin, the statements that Palin has made have only been asking for it…especially her comment that she has experience from foreign policy due to Alaska’s “maritime border to Russia.” And while this parody of McCain/Palin has been going on for quite some time now, it seems as if Obama, and especially Joe Biden, have been able to float slightly under the radar.
2. McCain’s stunts: A lot of the actions that McCain has made in the past week are rather questionable. He blows off Dave Letterman and even attempts to postpone the entire presidential debate. And though he argues that he is putting the country over the debate, I think it may have backfired. As a potential president of the United States, he isn’t going to be able to postpone events whenever he wants to. To me, and I’m sure to many others as well, the president should be able to balance multiple issues at once. I think this was more of a publicity stunt that was SUPPOSED to show McCain as heroic, but instead flopped and ended up making him look rash and undecisive.
3. McCain’s responses in the debate: Although McCain did give some good answers during the debate, I think that his body language and demeanor may have hurt him big time. First of all, when the candidates were forced to confront each other, the debate became slightly awkward. McCain seemed flustered and angry at times when confronted about unanswered questions, while Obama maintained a fairly calm demeanor. Obama also appeared in a more friendly light, referring to McCain as “John” while McCain referred to Obama as “Senator Obama.” And when Obama confronted McCain about his 90% voting record in agreement with Bush’s budgets, I felt as though McCain kept brushing it off with the same line “I was never Ms. Congeniality in the Senate.” So although Obama was no where near perfect (as pointed out in previous posts), I think that he appealed to more of the Independents and people that still remain on the fence.
It should be interesting to see how these polling results change after the VP debates later this week.
PS: I would love to hear arguments from a different point of view. I think someone pointed out earlier that this blog has kind of become a one-sided rant…
Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Moving On
1 hour ago
8 comments:
This blog has become very one-sided, and although that may have been expected due to California's known liberalism, someone from the other side, or even a devil's advocate, should step up and argue for the other side. I shall now attempt to do just that.
My personal opinion of the debate was that McCain appeared more professional than Obama. One reason for this is actually something Sarah pointed out to be one of McCain's faults - refering to Obama as Senator Obama. I think McCain did not intend for it to appear unfriendly or rude, but rather formal and polite. He was doing it more out of respect, and therefore, Obama referring to McCain as John could be construed as disrespectful. Maybe. The other reason why I felt McCain appeared more professional, was that he did a much better job at keeping quiet while the other was talking. On many occasions Obama tried to interupt McCain, or talk-over him in protest, when it was clearly not his turn to rebut what was being said. And in each of these instances McCain did not falter, nor raise his voice to be heard over Obama's ramblings, nor tell Obama to be quiet. Instead he continued to say what he was saying as if no one was trying to interrupt him because they couldn't wait their turn.
So there are my two reasons and my attempt to swing this pendulum a little ways away from the Obama side. Excuse me while I go find a really good hiding spot....
I agree that Obama and Biden have been floating under the radar lately. Most of the time I only hear people talk about Palin, and I have barely seen any news coverage on Biden. I look forward to the Vice President debate because I hope that it will bring more attention to Biden. I am also interested in how the VP debate will affect the polls.
Well, SARAH, you should know that Gallup can't always be right. Just kidding.
Anyways, all of these companies that predict the results of elections have different ways of determining the outcomes, and most importantly, none of them are always accurate, even though Gallup is probably the most respected of such companies. Although I myself believe that Obama will win, we can never know. Almost everybody (including me) is really loyal to one side, and those Bush votes may very well stay McCain votes... but hopefully not. I really can't see McCain becoming president. Bush, sure, but not McCain.
To make the blog less one-sided I decided to research the thoughts of those who believed McCain clearly won the debate.
Here is some of what I found:
1. Obama has a subtle, condescending speaking style. His hand gestures of constant pointing fingers, frequently raising his fingers to eye level, jabbing constantly, make’s one feel he’s lecturing us. Yes, John Kennedy jabbed, but only occasionally.
2. McCain’s strength was foreign policy. It showed. Obama did seem “naïve.” McCain won the “don’t meet with rogue leaders without preconditions” argument. Obama’s answers sounded like he was flip-flopping on his original statement.
While I do not agree, it was interesting to read other peoples ideas.
Here is an interesting article I found about the debate. Although this article does not explicitly state who "won", it discusses the ways in which each campaign can best use clips from the debate to influence voters. The article includes ideas similar to those in UnSpun.
http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-personality-analyst/200809/who-won-fridays-presidential-debate
I, as an admitted Republican, think Obama fell in the debate. He was able to sway the people merely because he is a good orator, but his stance on issues is still questionable. I agree that Obama seems to see himself above the people as his manner and rhetoric are complex. Most people do not hear his message,but only the cliche metaphors he uses that they love. Also, Obama has NO foreign policy experience whatsoever. He would make an awful diplomat,much less president.
While I definitely more in favor of Obama's proposed policies, I agree with Max that McCain would probably be more suited for president if you were to only consider McCain's many years of experience and Obama's lack thereof... Biden does, however, balance out the democratic ticket somewhat though it is true that he is definitely not the media's favorite subject. Now that i think about it, I've barely heard anything about Biden since he was announced as Obama's VP during the democratic convention.
I also agree with Micaela in taht during the presidential debate last friday, McCain did seem more polite and in-control. I also recall several times when Obama unsuccessfully tried interrupt McCain which, IMO, made McCain look more in control of the debate.
also, Gallup has shown that it is a reliable (and relatively unbiased?) polling group with considerable experience so I'd expect the Gallup poll to be a little more accurate than some of the other ones floating around the internet. With this lead that Obama holds, I doubt that McCain will become our next president unless something major or dramatic happens during the next few debates.
oh kevin...you caught me. Ms. Gould would be ashamed...but anyhoo, though this is a poll (and no poll is perfect), Gallup is a fairly well-known and established polling site. I'm sure there's a margin of error, but I would say that this tracking provides a basis or outline for the American public.
And I'm glad that we're finally getting some feedback from people that disagree with the majority here. I would agree that Obama's speech-giving skills are better than McCain's and I do think that this skill of his is detracting away some of the accusations that he is more inexperienced than McCain. In terms of Obama addressing McCain as "John": I can see how this could be taken as too casual or maybe even unprofessional. For some reason, it didn't come off in that way to me. However, I think that if Biden were to address Palin as "Sarah" at the VP debate, he would come off as condescending. Maybe it really is Obama's rhetoric...
I think that McCain calling Obama "Senator Obama" was more of the polite thing to do in the setting of a formal debate. Yet, I was a little perplexed that McCain wouldn't talk to Obama directly and make eye contact with him. He'd say something like "Obama doesn't seem to understand..." without looking at him, which came off as somewhat awkward, like Sarah mentioned. I also think that they both spent too much time talking about negatives of the other candidate and not enough about their own ideas..
And from so far of what I've heard about Palin, I don't feel comfortable with her being the VP. I hope she will be ready for the VP debate because if she isn't, the media will probably be bashing her for her mistakes for weeks. That is definitely what we do not need when we should be more focused on the presidential candidates at hand and what they're going to be doing when they've got the power.
Post a Comment