I will have more to say about all this later, but I wanted to get just a few words in about the Biden/Palin debate tonight. My comments here are just some more amateur punditry, and not a continued discussion of the previous, um, themes, we have been discussing. In other words, quite apart from whether or not I support her, or could support her, how did she do?
Taking a lesson from something my father once taught me with regard to evangelism, the point is not to win the argument, but rather to win the people. Measured by the arguments alone, neither candidate tripped on the way to the lectern, neither candidate fell down, and neither one perpetrated a Gaffe that embarrassed the Republic. Measured that way, they both did okay. Fine.
But the other measurement is that of connecting to people, being winsome, and dispelling myths. Again, this is apart from agreement or support. Joe Biden did not connect to people, he came across like a fairly competent attorney, and he dispelled no myths. The Joe Biden that everybody already knew was the one that showed up. Sarah Palin came off like the owner and operator of a small business near where you live, she was extremely winsome, and she absolutely destroyed the newly developing myth about her intelligence or competence.
Using the first calculus, I think Palin had a slight edge. Measured by the second, she owned the evening. In the aftermath of the Wall Street fiasco, we have heard an awful lot about the dangers facing Main Street. Well, she is Main Street. She was confident, informal, casual, “say it ain’t so, Joe.” She is plainly a street level real person. How often do you hear candidates for the vice-presidency of the United States say doggone it in a debate, give a shout out to elementary school kids, keep the opponent on his heels with deft humor, and all while dispelling the establishment-driven narrative that you are a lightweight on foreign affairs?
And make no mistake — she is a lightweight on foreign affairs. And after Reagan made his joke about Mondale’s “youth and inexperience,” he was still old. And it suddenly didn’t matter anymore.