Prematurely lauded as the most important vice presidential debate in the history of the universe, last night’s “disuscussion” between Democriatc VP nominee Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware and Republican VP nominee Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska largely fell flat.
As many have pointed out over the last few days, this was Palin’s debate to win (though, importantly, not necessarily Biden’s debate to lose). She is the darling child of the McCain ticket and consistently manages to increase his ratings higher than the governor’s hairstylist can pile her bun. However, in recent interviews, namely the one with Katie Couric, Palin has shown that she knows little to nothing about many of Americian’s biggest policies (read: the Bush Doctrine). Thus, last night, the bar for her was low. And, as many staunch conservatives held their breath and nervously sipped their whiskey all night, Palin slowly renewed their faith in her. She made no major gaffes other than decide to talk about Gen. McClellan and the American Civil War instead of Afghanistan. She stayed on her talking points and true to McCain’s message.
Perhaps, however, one should be careful not to say that Palin exceeded expectations. She was never asked follow up questions so never forced to go into detail. She may to some extent have controlled the direction of the debate by sticking to her script but, after a certain point, it began to make her look desperate. She proved that she doesn’t think it’s important to investigate the causes of global issues. She may have done well at talking to the camera, making sure every American caught her wink, but it also meant every American caught that nervous pursing of the lips that she does before she’s about to make up a cute answer. In short, Palin may have finally (four weeks before the election) validated her presence on the McCain ticket but she did not “win” this debate as expected giving the surge towards Obama a reason to deviate. And, with any luck, the media in the coming week is not going to let her forget that she messed up when she talked about Biden’s record on Iraq.
Speaking of Biden, remember how this was Palin’s debate to win and that he was probably going to have no effect? Yeah, well why is everyone actually talking about Biden? Because he performed beautifully. Managing not to put his foot in his mouth as he has done so many times in the past (Bosnian muslims really are called Bosniaks), Biden proved that he is very well versed not only in American policy, but Obama’s policy (note the change from Biden’s first appearance on the Obama ticket). He answered every question pointedly and forcefully. He managed to take away two of Palin’s trump cards: having a child in Iraq and knowing what it’s like to “play mommy”. He remained calm and cool and didn’t change tone throughout the night (note the periodic deep breaths that you can hear in the mic). He also became the second candidate not afriad to show America his tears. I think we all just fell in love.
One of Biden’s major mistakes was not attacking Palin directly, not going at her throat and holding her directly accountable for her past actions. And thus appears the influence of sexism in this race. What is notable about Biden’s avoidance of any sort of talk that could be deemed as sexist is that it made him that much less open for attack by Republicans in the coming days. Instead of going for low blows, they have to attack his 30+ years of executive knowledge. Biden was less direct with the camera which means he may not score as well with average viewers but he never let Palin’s “stick to the script” attitude throw him off. He remained flexible and ready for anything.
I’ll admit, I came into this debate an Obama-Biden fan and therefore came in with a more cynical view of Palin. And honestly, she did nothing to change my mind. She brought in a few “cringe moments” like “i’m not always going to answer the questions you want me to” or the fact that she can’t pronounce “nuclear” or her “i’m so glad we can all agree that we love the jews” statements. I’m also annoyed at how she has lowered the level of language in debates. She’s constantly dropping her g’s and throwing in some home grown slogans once worthy only of the mother in Bobby’s World. While this may seem like this really means “anyone can be president,” I’m going to repeat what I’ve said before: I want my candidates to be smarter than me. I was also incredibly disturbed by Palin’s belief in the expansion of executive power. It not only showed her lack of knowledge of the American government, but it also demonstrated that she thinks as VP she’ll be able to do whatever she wants. Plus, wasn’t she the one saying all night that we need to limit government, make it smaller? You can’t do that by expanding the powers of the VP.
In the end though, as Rolling Stone put it, “this debate isn’t going to affect a damn thing.” Palin may have recovered ground lost in recent weeks but remained an unsuitable match for Biden’s more collected attitude and finesse. I think both parties came out of the debate with renewed confidence in their own VP candidates but undecideds were probably still left undecided.
(PS: These were my reactions after watching the debate from 3:00 to 4:30 in the morning with most of the thoughts coming out of a semi-bizarre gchat session with many lines that should never be repeated. The morning news seems to be saying that Biden actually won (though one needs to be wary of these early polls) and that this debate was good in the sense that it made it even harder for McCain to gain any ground. Are there any other states he wants to pull out of?)
