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Phew!
That was a good a first debate as we could possibly have hoped for. John Kerry is an experienced and savvy politician, but he hasn't been on that big a stage before, and he came through in very good shape.
In the early going, Kerry definitely had Bush on the defensive. It was Bush, not Kerry, who seemed nervous and jittery. It was Bush, not Kerry, who repeatedly fell back on the repetition of mostly meaningless mantras. I wish I had a dollar for every time Dubya uttered the words "mixed messages" over the course of that ninety minutes. Throw in a quarter for every time he said "hard work," and I could have quite a night on the town.
There were several instances when Bush seemed not to have enough to say to fill his alloted ninety seconds. He stuttered, he stammered, he paused for uncomfortable lengths of time -- and best of all, he managed to make none of his points regarding Kerry's supposed flipflopping and indecisiveness stick.
Kerry could've gone for the jugular a couple of more times than he did, but, inexplicable as it is to many of us, most Americans like Dubya. They may have questions regarding his abilities and his performance of his duties, but they think he's a decent guy. As much as those of us from whose eyes the scales long ago fell would like to see Dubya eviscerated during these debates, Kerry has to somehow attack the "president" and still remain sympathetic and appealing to Bob and Marge Middle-America. Going too hard after Dubya risks turning them off.
I think tonight he mostly successful at doing just that.
The early post-debate polls are showing Kerry to have won decisively in the public's eye. That's huge, because the press has been for weeks portraying him as an underdog whose campaign was in trouble. If the post-debate buzz is that Kerry was the clear winner (as it certainly should be), that repositions him very positively.
The polls have long revealed that Dubya's approval rating is very low, but it seemed that many voters needed a reason -- permission, if you will -- to "fire" on a guy they consider a likable (ptui!) fellow. John Kerry just may have given them that reason tonight.
Especially when you consider that Dubya's strength in the polls has been his handling of the war on terror. Well, that's what was discussed tonight, and if Kerry's the winner on that front, he should be able to mop the floor with Dubya on the domestic front, an area in which Dubya's approval ratings are historically -- and deservedly -- low.
Brothers and sisters, I'm looking forward to some sweet dreams tonight.
Posted by brett at 11:42 PM | TrackBack