By the way, before I comment on the forum tonight, let me note that Warren didn’t cave in and wear a tie. I had told my wife that if he wore one, I was going to turn off the TV.
Like so many commentators said tonight, this is perhaps the best “debate” format we have seen. Same questions posed by the same moderator without any “gotchas” going on from questioners or rivals. We saw how the two candidates answered the same questions in an atmosphere that was about as safe as politics can be. Good job, Warren.
Warren didn’t shy away from some hot-button topics. While he has a niche as a moderate evangelical who has chosen to emphasize poverty and illness as much as abortion and same-sex marriage, it was clear at the forum that he didn’t believe these lightning rod issues should be avoided. He stated the questions well and then let the candidates say their piece without interruption.
Some impressions:
1. Obama was too slow and McCain sometimes too quick. It is clear that Obama is interested in a more philosophical answer that takes into account complexities. On the question of whether or not there is evil, he wanted to be clear that we don’t answer that question as people who just face evil “out there” but who experience evil “in here.” McCain’s response was a recommitment to find and kill OBL. In response to the energy crisis Obama was thinking about the next 25 years plus. McCain was a “drill here, drill now” answer. There is something emotionally gratifying about McCain’s ready responses. Obama seems more ready to slow us down and seek something we can be committed to for the long term.
2. I don’t think Warren’s “world and life” questions were incisive enough. In Jim Sire’s The Universe Next Door, Jim gives the 7 questions any worldview must answer. I think Warren’s purposes might have been better served if he had asked some of those questions rather than asking them about their faith commitments, or at least in addition to their faith commitments.
3. In dialogue Obama becomes tedious. In speeches he can be inspiring.
4. I loved the question about choosing to go against your own self-interests or those of your party to do what you believed to be the right thing. Obama demonstrated he is not a risk taker. I fear that McCain loves risks too much. But it seems clear to me that McCain is more ready to lose.
5. The crowd (congregation?) was more in McCain’s corner.
6. Obama’s handling of the abortion issue was abysmal. A prochoice candidate should do better than that.
7. Obama kept his eyes on Warren – a dialogical atmosphere. McCain kept addressing the crowd – a “”hey, I’m talking to you” kind of feel. I liked Obama’s style for that format, even if his eye contact was very poor and his speech halting. McCain felt like a train that couldn’t be slowed down.
McCain “won” this round. There was too much Dukakis in Obama. But both candidates will live to fight another day.
And thanks, Rick, for a making this happen. You put a lot on the line and did us proud.
