John McCain failed to land the knockout blow he needed, and Barack Obama still pulled his punches a bit more than he should have. The debate's format stunk and prohibited the candidates from really talking to each other. One CNN pundit said he learned that McCain wanted to "buy everyone a house" and Obama wants to "give everyone free health care," commitments that are "remarkable for a country that's broke."
McCain made too many references to the past and weird jokes about hair transplants, while Obama pulled a Clinton-esque move and hung around shaking hands and talking to voters in the venue long after McCain had left.
Our old friend Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post lamented that "there was no game changer," saying each man stuck to their tried-and-true attacks, with McCain's condescending reference to Obama at one point as "that one" getting "HUGE" play in the immediate aftermath of the debate, what he termed an unlucky break for McCain on what was probably just an offhand comment. And, indeed, the talking heads on CNN repeatedly brought up the gaffe, saying it could come to define the evening and take its place alongside Bill Clinton's reference to "that woman" when discussing the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Mostly, though, Cillizza thought the cautious debate was boring and maybe a bit too caught up in complex economic issues to bring in the kind of boffo ratings the vice-presidential debate did last week.
Over at the New York Times Caucus blog, they gave McCain props for more aggressively working the audience and the room but said neither man really stood out, agreeing with CNN that a status-quo debate goes to the candidate who's already in the lead: Obama. The Chicago Tribune agreed, saying, "At a point in the race when McCain badly needs to shake things up, the debate was short on the sort of fireworks that could alter the campaign's trajectory."
So what did you think of the matchup? And what do you want from the candidates' third (and final) debate next week?
Comments