Saturday, July 26, 2008
1960 redux?
Remember the Kennedy-Nixon debates? No, of course few people still alive remember them (just kidding). But seriously, if you saw them, you probably remember that Nixon's upper lip often glistened with droplets of sweat and his eyes shifted around as he made his assertions. He may have been lucid and possibly even correct but it didn't matter because his appearance was so shaky. Kennedy, on the other hand, was the picture-perfect image of a relaxed and confident alpha male. It also didn't particularly matter what he said - he could have been illucid and downright wrong - because he was cool, calm and collected.
These days we have McCain and Obama facing off. No debates yet presumably since they're going to await official nomination before taking each other on directly. We do have numerous occasions to see them, however and, as this article points out, Obama appears laid-back and a bit bemused by the whole thing while McCain seems tense and eager to get away. I think that's true although I'm not sure whether the electorate will make its selection based on how relaxed a future president seems to be. And I wonder whether comfort in front of a crowd has anything to do with leadership skill or decision-making? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. Maybe it's irrelevant. I'm guessing people tend to vote for the person who makes them feel good about themselves. Is that the hard-nosed guy even if he's uncomfortable talking to us or is it the meta-politician guy who is comfortable talking to us but may not be able to state very many of his convictions or plans? Darned if I know, at least so far.
These days we have McCain and Obama facing off. No debates yet presumably since they're going to await official nomination before taking each other on directly. We do have numerous occasions to see them, however and, as this article points out, Obama appears laid-back and a bit bemused by the whole thing while McCain seems tense and eager to get away. I think that's true although I'm not sure whether the electorate will make its selection based on how relaxed a future president seems to be. And I wonder whether comfort in front of a crowd has anything to do with leadership skill or decision-making? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. Maybe it's irrelevant. I'm guessing people tend to vote for the person who makes them feel good about themselves. Is that the hard-nosed guy even if he's uncomfortable talking to us or is it the meta-politician guy who is comfortable talking to us but may not be able to state very many of his convictions or plans? Darned if I know, at least so far.
Labels: 2008 election, people, tv
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