Obama's Debate Performance...a Contrarian View.

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Wednesday October 08, 2008 · 7:11 AM PDT

2008/10/08 · 07:11

Many of you felt that Obama hit a home run last night. I disagree. First let me say that, I felt the debate overall was a really poorly executed affair. The silly rules disallowing response and rebuttal, coupled with the blinking lights and short time limits virtually assured a content-free, talking point-laden affair. Moreover, Tom Brokaw's annoying personal question intrusions detracted from the point of having the candidates directly address voter questions. Given this format, its inherent flaws and the realities of our current economic situation, Obama did as well as could be expected.

However, with the exception of the week Wall Street imploded, Obama is sticking more and more to scripted talking points and generally "bottling" his intelligence and his voice. Last night was a perfect example. It was a setting where he could have explained his policies more deeply and connected personally with the voters. But, with the exception of healthcare (which he handled nicely), his answers last night not only did not address the specific question of the participant, they also felt tired, repetitive, prepared. I felt he was talking "at" the participants. I understand why...but I worry that it will undermine what got him here.

I remember watching a video of how Obama spoke to his campaign staff upon securing the Democratic nomination. It was intelligent, heartfelt, and it was...real. Reaching back to the early phases of this campaign, last year, before "silly season" started, I was amazed at how this man spoke, how he communicated his ideas, how in fact the language he used was so different from that of typical politicians. So I understood when, as the campaign wore on, he increasingly turned to rhetoric, to neatly summed up talking points, feeling it a "necessary evil" especially since on many occasions the intelligence of the man still crept through, plain for all to see (e.g., his brilliant speech on race).

Over the late summer and into this September, that had gone into hiding, for the most part--replaced by shortened, bulletized points and counterpunches. However, his deft handling of the Wall Street crisis, specifically his candor, openness and willingness to do extended press conferences really showed his strong side. Obama came out of his shell and the result? WOW. His poll numbers EXPLODED and Mccain's tanked. But, after a week of that, he put himself back into his scripted shell and brought out the tired talking points. Last night was the nadir...talking point hell!

But guess what? Voters are STILL deeply concerned. Voters STILL want more from our candidates. They want more than sound bytes. From Mccain, they'll not get it. But Obama has established a special connection. If he can use these last few weeks to expand on his ideas, both in stump speeches as well as press conferences, advertisements and through surrogates, he'll seal the deal.

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