The World Newser is World News' daily blog. Here, you'll find our staff's thoughts on the day's news and the way we build our broadcast. Plus, we'll share reports from our team of correspondents in the field, as well as producers behind-the-scenes.
RECENT POSTS
- What One Man 200 Miles Above Earth is Thankful For Today
- Clem's Chronicles: Toyota Recall/Afghan Speech/State Dinner Crashers
- Charlie Gibson...On this Thanksgiving
- Quotes of the Day: 'It is my intention to finish the job'
- Start Your Shopping Engines
- The Hajj and Women's Dress
- Clem's Chronicles: Afghanistan/WH State Dinner/Holiday Travel
- Photos: White House State Dinners Through the Years
- Are We Becoming A Nation of Know-Nothings?
- Quotes of the Day: 'President Obama has the information he wants... to make his decision'
- Clem's Chronicles: Jobs/Afghanistan/Health Care Reform/Deficit
- Child Safety: Crib Recall and Other Recently Recalled Kids Products
WORLD NEWSER CATEGORIES
MONTHLY ARCHIVES
« Previous | Main | Next »
Obama Team: McCain's Debating Skills Unparalleled
September 26, 2008 3:18 PM
ABC's John Berman from Oxford, Mississippi:
I have to warn you, I can barely write a complete sentence, and I am hideously ugly. Surprised? Alarmed? Flat-out scared? Well, what I have just done is set expectations, a key part of the political dance that happens before every big debate. You see, if you were to meet me now, and it turned out that I am merely an average writer, and somewhat homely instead of horrific, it would be something of a personal victory.
It is this reasoning that helps explain why reporters received an e-mail from the Obama campaign, touting the debating skills of John McCain, and deriding that of their own candidate. "According to the pundits, McCain's debating skills are unparalleled," the memo says, "and the expectations for him tonight are sky-high. "
Now, I promise, there are not many Obama staffers who think that McCain's skills are unparalleled. But what they just did is make you think that McCain is Cicero. And if for some reason, he is merely good, not but not historic, it would somehow be disappointing.
This is normal from campaigns; set the bar high for your opponent. What I never remember seeing is a campaign going out of its way to slam its own candidate. In this same Obama campaign memo are a number of clips quite critical of Obama, including this humdinger from an Associated Press article: "For a man known as a powerful speaker, Obama has rarely wowed people in political debates. He can come across as lifeless, aloof and windy."
When was the last time you heard a campaign point out that people find their very own candidate "lifeless, aloof, and windy?" It is kind if catchy, they could put it on their posters. "Obama: Change you Can Believe In…because he is Lifeless, Aloof and Windy."
September 26, 2008 in Vote 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (234)
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
Well, it takes what it takes to write a excellent speech.
Posted by: speedy | Sep 26, 2008 4:09:18 PM
Mc Cain if by far the better speaker, debater and in general the better man for the countries Top Job. Listen and weep No-Bama supporters!!!
Posted by: juju | Sep 26, 2008 4:09:41 PM
Wow. I am impressed. You actually wrote an article that almost made you sound like a non-partisan journalism instead of a commentator
Posted by: StuartTN | Sep 26, 2008 4:10:27 PM
jhw539
Obama took 10 days to write a speech, you call that an achivement
what a joke ??????????????????????????
Posted by: adam | Sep 26, 2008 4:13:14 PM
What happened to the promise of no deal no debate? What did the 2 senators achieve by going to Washington?
The maverick is now very tentative and fickle.
Posted by: Peach | Sep 26, 2008 4:13:42 PM
usarfc2008: Come on people, enough of the age thing, it's getting old. Looks to me that he gets around pretty well.
Posted by: bombem | Sep 26, 2008 4:14:53 PM
[How can one set a bar for Palin???
Posted by: Libratine | Sep 26, 2008 4:01:00 PM]
Just leave it on the ground- she'll trip over it :)
Posted by: LMAO! | Sep 26, 2008 4:14:58 PM
Two-cats says
I hardly think Obama has memorized his way through this campaign. He is intelligent and thinks on his feet.
Obama without teleprompter is like
UH UH HA HA NANA
CHANGE
Posted by: adam | Sep 26, 2008 4:15:04 PM
a recent NEWSWEEK that covered the RNC showed Cindy and Palin reading from a teleprompter to such detail it said 'say 'thanks everyone' then 'hug those around you'
pathetic
Posted by: Alan Fine | Sep 26, 2008 4:15:22 PM
This is sad. Put all of the pressure on McCain to do well and let Hussein Obama ride again.Lets turn the table and put the pressure on Obama. Let him tell us what he has done in the senate for the last 2YRS. Let him tell us what he has done for the state of Illinois that is broke since he was elected."I voted present".Joe better be ready to president if he gets elected so someone can make a decision on something.
Posted by: ronnie | Sep 26, 2008 4:17:43 PM
Dod-Countrywide-the-fraud
You are right, I am racist, because I am not voting for Lord Obama.
I migratd from India and I am American Citizen. I have never seen such corrupt politician protected by almost all the media.
for Example , Obama arranged 100K to his buddy to setup a gardern, No Garden, all gone
Posted by: adam | Sep 26, 2008 4:18:37 PM
McCain...let's be real. First signs of damentia, you guys can put him in WH if you want to. Look at Bush, his is covered up by drinking all the time.
Posted by: Penny | Sep 26, 2008 4:19:15 PM
ANYONE who says that McCain is a better debator is an outright liar. HILARIOUS!
McCain has as much personality when speaking as a block of moldy cheese. How many times on the campaign trail did he repeat verbatum that pathetic line "I will take this pen, I will make them famous, and you will know about them" he repeated that so many times yet he had to look down at his notes as he said it. LAME-O
Posted by: Jerry | Sep 26, 2008 4:19:26 PM
decipher: Come on man, OFLIP FLOP leads in that catagorie by a mile.
Posted by: bombem | Sep 26, 2008 4:20:15 PM
Has ABCnews.com become the official Obama Campaign "spin machine"?????
Posted by: Francisco Cardenas | Sep 26, 2008 4:20:22 PM
uh I am uh um tired of um uh you uh uh talking about uh um my uh um stuturing uh um I uh am trying to uh um get off my uh um bad uh um habit of um uh lies.
Posted by: BHO | Sep 26, 2008 4:21:08 PM
Alan Fine
CNN tried to show all the teleprompters during republican COnvention, they never showed teleprompter during democrats.
Do you know why, Because lot of Liberal MAerican thinks Obama speaks from his heart and CNN does not want to change that.
Posted by: adam | Sep 26, 2008 4:21:22 PM
How to Debate McBush....
Unleash Hell.............But dont
give anyone a stroke.....lol
The Landside......................?
You do not hear the pollsters talk about
Wireless anything computers cellphones
ETC. I have not touched a wired phone in
years. yep could be a BIG Surprise on
Election Night....
Posted by: Anita Yova | Sep 26, 2008 4:21:31 PM
McCain can't keep pulling the same political stunt. In 2000, McCain backed out of one of the presidential debates with George Bush, and cancelled at the last minute. He used some poor excuse.
In 2008, the poor excuse McCain tried to use is "Country First". But it didn't work this time. It seems that when the polls are against him, candidate McCain has a history of cutting & running from debates before the American voters. So for McCain, it's cut & run, and "POLLS FIRST".
Posted by: I-Vote | Sep 26, 2008 4:21:45 PM
Posted by: infoseeking | Sep 26, 2008 4:00:33 PM "The Obama camp gets to frame how everything works?"
And it was not too long ago that the McCain camp was trying to "define" Obama. Hypocrites!
Posted by: Mike | Sep 26, 2008 4:22:35 PM
Post a comment
