Obama's October Surprise!

The following is a review I wrote about the first presidential debate between McCain and Obama. I withheld it in order to contrast my opinion on the outcome of that debate to the second one that took place last night. I have changed nothing since wrote it.

As someone who is often called angry, I appreciate it when others are called out on not being angry enough. It occurs to me that many of those that feel as though during last Friday's debate Senator Obama seemed cold, and disconnected to the average persons pain have not realized that there is a difference in Obama's debate style, and the substance of his agenda. While it is sometimes necessary to resort to indignant speech in order to make a point to ones adversaries, it does not altogether win the hearts and minds of those you wish to join your cause. Most that would wish for such a thing are already in your camp. I try to watch these things with a keen eye for moments of opportunity to attack an opponent, I can clearly say there were times I saw opportunity for Obama on Friday night, and as a skillful politician I am quite sure Obama did also.
Anyone that assumes from the debate last Friday that Obama is disconnected from the pain of the average person, needs to merely take a look at his platform to see that this is not the case. Growing our economy (once again) from the bottom up as the United States did in order to free ourselves from our last great depression is the cornerstone of Obama's plan. While he may not have claimed during the debate to "feel the pain" of the average worker, or muttered emotional post traumatic claims of love for them, average people still can get the message he cares.
As pundits claim that there were no angry assertions, and knockout punches thrown from Obama during the debate, they can hardly say the same for his opponent. Scowls, and and nervous cackles were employed by McCain as emotional counterpoint to Obama's use of clearheaded debate on policy. To McCain's detriment he came across as the angry old guy. Likely if these same angry responses came from Obama he would have appeared as an enraged young black man after an old and defenseless American hero. I say this not as excuse, but simply as truth. Nevertheless it is merely a personal talking point, and likely the least of what Obama may have been thinking.
As a politico I enjoy a heated discussion as much as anyone that finds themselves reading my words on this blog. We are politico's. We are, whether we will admit it or not, creatures interested in, and products of, the partisan politics that have permeated the airwaves, and bandwidth of our nation for the last decade. For anyone to have read a political blog, listened to a heated screed on the radio, or rifled through the Sunday paper for the comments section, to say otherwise would be a bold faced lie. The same is true for the members of the press that indulge themselves in judgment of candidates based on ratings share, and affirmation of personal political views as they have been doing all week.
At the end of last weeks debate it was far clearer to me that Obama's debate style is not one that will garner the admiration of politicos like us. It never has been.
During the previous debates there were calls for Obama to give a knockout punch. A perplexed contingent of political junkies posted time, and time again on liberal, as well as conservative blogs, that he must bloody his opponent in order to win the nomination of his party. That in order to prove he has a acceptable style of leadership he must be willing to mire himself in the the day to day filth of political battle.
We were wrong, and he proved it.
Is this affirmation of a return to a less contemptible approach to leadership?
Maybe. To be sure it has awakened many who do not respect our lust for partisan blood letting. At the very least it seemed to throw off the timing of McCain who surely came to a debate looking for a fight.
For now it seems as though our talking point for "more respectable campaigning" seems to have been hijacked by someone who may have the intent to follow through with it.
Obama may have disappointed those like us, that wanted to see a brawl. We tuned in to see a real political fight, and found ourselves listening to one man give clear respectful answers, while the other seemed to sulk and spin.

That's debatable-County Clerk & Register of Deeds

As I type this, the debate for Barry County Register of Deeds and County Clerk is getting underway at the Barry County Commission on Aging in Hastings. I dropped the ball on providing a place for discussion of the last two debates so here it is.

(Fair warning: Any comments on 9-1-1 or guns will be deleted!)

That's Debatable- Prosecutor Edition

Barry County prosecutor Tom Evans will square off against primary challenger Kerri Selleck tonight (June 26) at 7 p.m. at the Barry County Commission on Aging. The debate will be moderated by attorney David Makled.

That's Debatable- Sheriff's edition

Based on the comments on this blog and from what I'm hearing, the Barry County Sheriff's race may be the "big one" this primary season in Barry County. The candidates will be debating tonight at the Barry County Commission on Aging building on Woodlawn Avenue in Hastings at 7 p.m. Fred Jacobs, publisher of the Hastings Banner, will moderate. I just learned I can't make it so I doubt I'll be posting a recap of it (if I can or if I can tune it in on local radio I'll edit this post later to reflect that). Feel free to post your own reviews in the comments, though let's try to keep this race on the level of who will do the best job and stay away from the "your momma wears combats boots" rhetoric, shall we?

On a related note, I'm glad to see the GOP chair decided to step back from moderating the upcoming primary debates. We saw last election cycle how dangerous it can be when a party chair intervenes in a debate in what was generally seen as an underhanded way set up to aid one particular candidate. I'm also glad that the local Republican Party finally stepped up and decided to quit whining about how the Democratic Party handled the debates and host their own, especially seeing as how it didn't make sense that in a one-party system it was the OTHER party that was actually doing a better job of letting the public know who was running and what they stood for. While it makes sense for the Republican Party to host their own primary debates, I still would prefer to see the debates sponsored by the local media and/or a consortium of local civic organizations especially when it comes to the general election- at least when we manage to get a slate on candidates running on both sides of the political fence.