Convention Preview

I always smile every time I see Obama become amused himself by the opposition.  When he says, "It's like they're proud of their own ignorance" (or something close), I just smile along with him.  Or when his voice cracks as he says, "Is that the best you got?"--I just love him.  I remember earlier in the primary season when McCain said at a rally something about Obama not getting the "news."  Obama countered at his own rally with a direct response and then said, "That's the news, McCain" in a deep, authoritative voice.  At that point, I couldn't wait for the debates.

That is really great, Al!  All Barack, or his surrogates, need to do is what this video does... splice together McCain's craziness with Barack's cool, calm competence.

There is a picture out there of Barack with his feet on his desk... and holes in the soles of his shoes.  That could be in an ad along with McCain's $540 loafers... who is the elitist?  Also show Barack's one house and then pictures of McCain's 8 houses.

Another video idea, what McCain says compared to what his campaign says... especially the times that his surrogates have said, in response to question about what McCain has said, that McCain misspoke, what McCain said was not the policy of the McCain campaign.  Pretty funny!

I read somewhere, (maybe here?) that there are 2 types of politicians... the politician that 'knows his stuff' and the politician who is staff driven.  There must be tons of ways to show that Barack 'knows his stuff' and McCain is 'staff driven'.  If I was McCain I would be pretty nervous about the debates because that is where the 'knows his stuff' and 'staff driven' is really going to show up.  I think that Barack was purposefully easy on Clinton in the primary debates but he won't be so easy on McCain!

I'm not concerned about Barack's VP since he is known for his reasoned good decisions but I am still concerned about how Bill C. will behave at the convention.

The more I think about that I think you might be right.  When I look back and compare Obama during the primary debates and how he comes across during townhalls and interviews it seemed during the earlier debates that there was more hesitation and pauses which can come across as less confident and less authoratative.

And I think those hesitaitons and pauses were due to two factors, one he didn't want to bloody another democrat and perhaps more importantly they were in agreement on most issues that were discussed.  This will not be the case for the general election debates.  I think Obama will be able to come off appearing much more commanding and presidential, throw in a bit of the Obama humor (where appropriate) and we'll see a performance McCain could only dream to match.

The general elections debates I think will be far more interesting.  With Obama's cool and composed demeanor and McCain's noted temper tantrums I wonder if we won't see Obama trigger a McCain erruption and that would most likely be very very bad for McCain.

Yep - as Dona says, I can't wait for the debates.

Also - I loved that section in the middle with the Clintons.

KD