Posted by Jed Lewison on Tue Sep 23, 2008 at 9:54 AM Pacific

More debate preview

The New York Times has an interesting video preview of the Obama and McCain debate styles. On the print page:

  • Obama Carries Uneven Record as Debater to First Contest With McCain
  • A Scrappy Fighter, McCain Honed His Debating Style in and Out of Politic

As far as expectations go, that seems to be pretty good for Obama -- people get that McCain has a stronger track-record as a debater. The only problem will be is if Obama fulfills those expectations.

Hopefully, Obama will not only manage to repeat the fact that Iraq is costing us $10 billion a month over and over and over (he should do it ad nauseum, and then again) but also poke a few barbs at McCain to keep him off balance.

If Obama can keep McCain from developing a rhythm, perhaps by challenging his honesty and honor, it will be hard for McCain to outright win, and given that Obama will enter the debate with a lead over McCain in the state of the race, for McCain, a tie is basically a loss.

One important thing is that when (if) Obama challenges McCain's honor, he shouldn't make it sound like he's frustrated or exasperated with McCain lying about his record. Rather, Obama needs to make it clear that his problem with McCain's lies is that this is what we've spent the last eight years going through -- we can't afford more of the same.

The issue isn't just that McCain is trying to gain an unfair advantage, rather the issue is that McCain is lying to the American public -- and we've already had enough of that.

More debate preview

The New York Times has an interesting video preview of the Obama and McCain debate styles. On the print page:

  • Obama Carries Uneven Record as Debater to First Contest With McCain
  • A Scrappy Fighter, McCain Honed His Debating Style in and Out of Politic

As far as expectations go, that seems to be pretty good for Obama -- people get that McCain has a stronger track-record as a debater. The only problem will be is if Obama fulfills those expectations.

Hopefully, Obama will not only manage to repeat the fact that Iraq is costing us $10 billion a month over and over and over (he should do it ad nauseum, and then again) but also poke a few barbs at McCain to keep him off balance.

If Obama can keep McCain from developing a rhythm, perhaps by challenging his honesty and honor, it will be hard for McCain to outright win, and given that Obama will enter the debate with a lead over McCain in the state of the race, for McCain, a tie is basically a loss.

One important thing is that when (if) Obama challenges McCain's honor, he shouldn't make it sound like he's frustrated or exasperated with McCain lying about his record. Rather, Obama needs to make it clear that his problem with McCain's lies is that this is what we've spent the last eight years going through -- we can't afford more of the same.

The issue isn't just that McCain is trying to gain an unfair advantage, rather the issue is that McCain is lying to the American public -- and we've already had enough of that.

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