Obama Debates Bush: Does It Work?

Barack Obama, contrary to the prediction here, didn’t attack McCain as more neoconservative than Bush. He was satisfied to repeat the mantra that Bush was wrong, and McCain represents more of the same. McCain bit once, and tried to separate himself himself from Bush. Mostly though, McCain ignored the thrust.

McCain instead went after Obama on a series of known Obama problem areas, and by doing so, kept Obama on the defensive, which included the several times Obama said, “John is absolutely correct.” The related atmospherics seemed to work better for McCain—he looked straight ahead and referred to Sen. Obama, while Obama looked directly at McCain, addressed McCain as “John,” smirked and made gestures of disagreement.

Here are two other perspectives. Dick Morris, a Republican (and ex-Bill Clinton) advisor, says Obama won because he won on the economy, and the economy (the first third of the debate) is the big issue. And Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster who worked hard to assemble a focus group made up entirely of Las Vegas “undecideds,” reported the group went strongly for Obama, and most appreciated Obama’s detailed criticism of McCain’s Iraq policy pre-surge.

The media will spin the debate for Obama, and should be able to leave voters who didn’t watch with the impression Obama won, if in part because foreign policy is McCain’s strong suit, not Obama’s.