Obama's Conversation With Himself, McCain's Conservation With America

Here are my first impressions from Rick Warren's Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency. (I admit I was switching back and forth between that and the Olympics. Fortunately, I only missed some track and the women's marathon and just saw Phelps win his 8th gold medal.)

Speaking of marathons, Barack Obama fared about as well as he did in some of the marathon-like primary debates he had with Hillary Clinton. To put it best, I'll leave it to John Kerry's former online fundraising guy who has become an evangelical since then:

"OK - I take back some of my initial over-enthusiasm for Obama’s performance. I think he did not meet the high expectations of evangelical leaders who are secretly plugging for him. Too many of his answers were vague. He just didn’t seem fully prepared. On a lot of those questions, he had wide open doors. He could have nailed them. But he just kind of went around in circles. A little John Kerryesque, I fear to say."

What exactly is Obama's problem when it comes to forums, town halls, debates vs. rallies and speeches? I take it back to a point I've made earlier about the junior senator from Illinois being, at his heart of hearts, an academic. On the abortion issue, Obama didn't come out strong on being pro-choice while supporting other issues related to "life." Instead, he bloviated on a line that Democrats (and moderate Republicans) have been saying since 2006: "let's find a way to reduce the amount of abortions in America" by encouraging adoptions, etc. It's a good point, but one that many Americans really don't care about.

Obama also fumbled a tax issue when he was asked to define what "rich" is. Instead of trying to change the premise of the question (since it is obviously a dumb question), he actually went on to answer it by saying if your family makes $150K or under, you're middle class or poor; if you make $250K or over, you're pretty well off. What??? So what am I classified as if my family is making in between $150 to $250? (And by the way, what is a "windfall profit"? Unfortuantely, I might leave it up to President Obama to determine if I'm making too much money.)

The biggest stumble from Barack was his answer to Warren's question on whether or not evil exists in this world and whether it should be "ignored, contained, or defeated." The Democrat's answer: evil must be "confronted". What does that mean? It's like Obama was taking a multiple choice test, and decided to make his own bubble saying "all of the above" (kind of like voting "present").

You can see Obama's performance one of two ways. Either he was way too conscious of the many audiences he was trying to please (social conservatives, netroots liberals, middle America) or, once again, he went on the defensive (maybe a combination of both). Either way, I saw the presence of "Professor Obama" instead of "President Obama" ... and of course, I'm more afraid of Dr. Jekkyl in the Oval Office than I am of Mr. Hyde.

In the post-forum coverage, Dana Bash of CNN had a great observation on the two candidates' styles: Obama decided to have a conversation with Rick Warren, and looked at Warren in each of his answers, which probably contributed to his defensiveness. McCain decided to have a conversation with the audience, and in turn with the country, when he answered his questions.

McCain's performance was awesome. Don't take it from me ... once again, take it from Zack:

"Wow. McCain is doing really well. He’s so relaxed and natural. What’s going on? He was supposed to be old and spent and out of touch. But he’s being so much more engaging than Obama was. I think… Right?"

"And just now on education. McCain, '…And find bad teachers another line of work.'"

"He’s just doing so good. Maybe, at least, this strong performance is coming early enough that Obama & his debate prep-ers will snap into better shape fast."

David Gergen on CNN rightfully predicted that McCain will be a much tougher debate opponent for Obama than originally thought. Here's why:

McCain's answers to the actual questions were short and sweet. And he knew how to target the socially conservative audience that he needs to shore up for November. On the abortion question, he lauded his 25-year pro-life record, emphasizing the overwhelming importance of appointments to SCOTUS. Furthermore, McCain did what Obama didn't on the "rich" question. He smoothly deflected the question by saying that we shouldn't tax the rich, "we should try to give everybody the opportunity to be rich in America." He went on to explain how tax policy should encourage growth and promote job creation. Obama's worst answer to a question (how to deal with evil) was McCain's best: defeat it. He expanded upon this point when answering a question on what is worth dying for: freedom. In explaining the situation in Georgia, McCain explained the most important job as president: commander-in-chief, a leader of the free world that will actually promote and defend freedom.

McCain's shining moments came when he told stories: the story of his decision to stay behind in Vietnam to allow a soldier who was captured before him to be set free; the story of his family's decision to adopt a Bangladeshi daughter; etc. Which goes to this larger point: voters don't connect with policy, nuance or academia; they connect with stories. In that light, John McCain should do the following for the last 80 days of the campaign:

• McCain needs to press Obama even more on joint town halls. The presidential debates are just 90-second and 60-second versions of policy items and rhetoric in stump speeches, and McCain should say so.
• McCain need to stop apologizing for telling stories. Democrats will probably say that he comes off as a "grandfather in a rocking chair telling his grandchildren stories of the past." But the fact is that his stories give him a powerful way of bonding with people. Obama has already told his story through two books and an 18-month presidential campaign. Something that comes with heroic service in the military as well as on Capitol Hill is the ability to tell great tales.
• Speaking of his stories, McCain needs a series of ads on these tales, highlighting the themes of decision-making, courage, leadership, and compassion.
• McCain also did a great job for social conservatives. A friend of mine noted that a bunch of Huckabee supporters were awestruck with McCain's performance on abortion, marriage, and judges. In the post-forum coverage on CNN, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council sang his praises. The McCain campaign should record answers from Obama vs. McCain on these issues and make radio ads targeted to country, conservative talk and even Christian stations.

I am now significantly more excited about McCain's campaign than I was two hours ago. I just made another donation to the campaign, and you should too! According to Soren, he's going to need it.