My Two Cents on the Debate

By BJ

The final debate is now behind us, and if the polls can be believed, it is now a clean sweep for the Obama/Biden team, (partisan mileage may vary).  I have to admit, I never listened to much of last night’s debate, so I will leave comments regarding any actual substance that managed to slip in between the rehearsed talking points to my colleagues.  (Fortunately I did read enough live-blogs to not be entirely surprised, though somewhat amused, to find that “Joe the Plumber” is the story of the day on Memeorandum.)

However, while I didn’t listen to the debate, I did watch it, with the sound off, and I do have a few comments related to what I saw.

There’s a recent commercial for some laundry detergent or aid where a guy is being interviewed for a job, and instead of listening to the quite substantive answer the interviewee is giving, the employer is staring at the stain on the guy’s shirt, which is drowning out the answer with its own ramblings.

Like it or not, we make a lot of our decisions based upon almost unconscious reactions to people’s body language and appearance.  Appearance being a determining factor has been a truism of the presidential debates since Kennedy-Nixon, and it is almost sad that while Obama has pushed beyond TV into new media, McCain hasn’t progressed out of the radio era.

The reaction shots were particularly brutal.  Obama relaxed and smiling,  McCain eye-rolling, grimacing, sneering, and so forth.  What really astounds me about this, is that it’s the same story over and over.  McCain has been lambasted for his poor performances in the previous two debates, (and even during the few primary debates the Republicans had), on just these kinds of reactions, and yet he can’t help himself but make the same mistakes yet again.  McCain just seems incapable of learning.

Contrast with Obama, whose performance in debates has improved dramatically since last year.  The stumbling stutterer of a year ago now looks the master of the game.

Finally, I have to ask, what the f**k is with McCain’s eyes?  Did he have an eye exam just before the debate and the dilation drops hadn’t worn off?  The few times he actually opened them all the way, the pupils looked unnaturally large.  The rest of the time his eyelids were fluttering so much I was beginning to suspect he was sending out secret messages by blink-code.  Seriously, that was disturbing.