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MANY thanks in advance - the debates are over, as are my postmortems! You guys make me smile out of both sides of my mouth...
10/14/04
The Human Touch
By calimary
I waited til the morning after to write this assessment of the final debate between John Kerry and George W. Bush. It seemed a better idea to sleep on it. Ironically, it was the bedroom issues, in a much broader sense, as well as the human, personal touches that lead me more eagerly to award the blue ribbon to Kerry.
To Mr. Bush’s credit, I will say that, at least this time, it appears he switched to decaf. Somebody evidently got to him about the emotional outbursts and aggressiveness he showed in our last episode, wherein he partially ran over the moderator, and spent most of his time barking at us, in an attempt to show how resolute and forceful he could be. This time he was somewhat more toned down. Well, yeah, there was more podium pounding. More stomping on every syllable of such words as “exaggerated.” WHY, whenever he does this, am I ALWAYS reminded of my fellow dorm party animals back during college, after we’d all had a few-dozen too many cheap-o wine coolers, when we thought that over-enunciating our words would prove how sober we still were? Or maybe he just wants to demonstrate how he can, too, pronounce those five-dollar words, even while he makes weak jokes about his wife having a better command of the English language than he does. By the way, did you catch the decidedly uncomfortable “laughter” from the audience after that one? Is this an attribute we REALLY want in a President of the United States – who has to speak to a lot of smart guys (both here AND around the world, too) as well as others who may not be?
Somebody also got to Bush about his smirk. It popped up a few times but wasn’t the story of the debate, as we saw, nonstop, the first time onstage that John met George. Instead, it appears someone had nagged him, nonstop, to smile. Keep smiling. In fact, do it with a slightly open mouth. If you purse your lips, George, you smirk. None of that! Keep your lips slightly parted. Unfortunately, this is a guy who probably doesn’t ever ask for directions, let alone follow them well. We got that open-mouthed smile, one that seemed artificially plastered into place, but crooked. It isn’t even a smile anymore. It’s too forced. It’s more like a diagonal line, starting high up on the right, ending down low on the left. Reflects his politics, I suppose. But it looked awfully unnatural just the same, as though he did not come by it honestly.
Occasionally, the smirk still snuck in there. For Bush, I suspect by now, it’s a lifetime habit and therefore unavoidable. But the smile, the chuckles (also seeming rather forced) and outright laughs that came along too frequently with his answers and responses just seemed inappropriate. Particularly when some of these pertained to issues that too many other Americans don’t regard as laughing matters. Bush came off as disingenuous. Taking nothing seriously, and I’m not just talking that aw-shucks, regular-guy schtick he’s made his hallmark. It appears he doesn’t take serious things seriously, either. Excusable when you’re a Jay Leno or David Letterman, but not when you’re the president.
Which brings me to Kerry (well, DUH!) who actually scored a subtle but exquisite coup in this department during the final debate. One huge, overriding complaint about John Kerry is that he’s a cold fish – a little too serious and sober, droning and boring, maybe a little too edjumacated and high-fallutin’, doncha know? Again and again I’ve heard people remark how different he seems during personal appearances from the tall gray stone-face you see during brief clips on the news. You got to see the human side of John Kerry in the last joust, and in a splendid way. It occurred during the concluding question – about the women in these men’s lives. Bush gave a somewhat predictable spiel that observers say they’ve already heard on the campaign trail. He’s got this one down. The single thing about George Bush that I actually do find sincere is his affection for his wife, and to a lesser extent, his daughters. This I don’t think is phony or manipulative. And he got the expected laughs from the audience when he talked about how the womenfolk in his life have taught him to stand up straight and not scowl.
But when Kerry’s turn came, there was a flash of nothing less than unexpected brilliance. You assumed he’d talk about the controversial Teresa. He got good mileage out of a joke that all three of the men onstage, including moderator Bob Schieffer, had “married up.” The audience, and Schieffer, too, clearly liked that one. But even better was his sheepish follow-up about how some say that may apply more to him than to the others. Bigger laughs. Then he follows up again with a chuckle – “…but I can take it,” as the laughter continued. Meanwhile, on the other side of the stage, hardly any reaction from Bush except for that odd little smile that stayed laminated onto his face. Did he not join in the laughter because he didn’t want to enhance the point Kerry had just scored, or draw much attention to it, or did he perhaps just not get the joke? Or, on the other hand, did he betray that he didn’t REALLY agree with the joke, but instead rejected the idea that he, too, had “married up?” (Bush didn’t react to Kerry’s zinger comparing him to Tony Soprano talking about law and order, either.)
It was a master stroke on Kerry’s part, however. It was a great way for him to finish the questioning. You want a good punctuation mark at the end of a long sentence so the last note the audience takes away is a good one. Leave ‘em laughing. But even better, it was spontaneous. Uncoached. Unscripted. Genuine. Just something he threw in. A clear indicator of a quick wit, a nimble mind, and best of all, proof that he doesn’t take himself too seriously. He’s not just this big, boring, gray, stone-face, after all. He’s warm, engaging, approachable, easy-to-relate-to on a truly human level, obviously skilled at thinking on his feet as well as working without a net.
And this was JUST what he needed.
Plus, if you’ll recall from the first debate, Kerry displayed that same endearing, self-deprecating humor in his comments about his daughters. He and Bush both saw the topic as an opportunity for a little levity but Bush aimed downward while Kerry did the opposite. For Bush it was “I’d like to put a leash on ‘em.” For Kerry it was “I’ve learned not to do that” in sheepish tones – almost as though he was admitting that he’d come by this realization the hard way. And, again, spontaneous. Unscripted. Off the top of his head. Perhaps because it was very real from inside.
These are attributes I rather like to see in my president. Our leader has to be firm, knowledgeable, and steady, but also engaging, ready to handle any encounters with any personality type, either on the stump, in the media, or sitting at the negotiating table with friends and/or foes. I want someone who does nuance, who can deal with the broad spectrum of humanity with MANY tools in his toolkit, not just one or two, and who recognizes the rainbow has MANY colors and shades, not just mere black-and/or-white.
There were other standout moments during the fourth debate, of course. Kerry scored many more points, whether it was an incredibly noble and supportive comment about Mary Cheney, or his stirring take on his faith, or his wish to honor a woman’s right to choose (because he believes it happens to be between her, God, and her doctor). He gained more ground with quick reminders about the hypocrisy in Bush’s “I’m a uniter, not a divider” and the reality in this country and this government that completely disproves it; the secret meetings in the White House with special interests; the Democrats who are locked out of meetings and prevented from voting on urgent bills; Bush’s neglect of the NAACP and Congressional Black Caucus; the REAL reason so many more people are eligible for Pell Grants (because more people are needy now); his own gun ownership and lifelong love of hunting; and the assault-weapons crisis that helps make us LESS safe and secure as a country, particularly when Osama bin Laden’s own handbook describes how easily terrorists can arm themselves within our own borders, at our own gun shows.
Bush surprisingly avoided the annoying “he can run but he can’t hide” cliché he tried so hard to pound into our heads the last time he and Kerry sparred. I was waiting for it all evening, and was actually glad he either forgot it or left it out. He may have left out most of the smirking, but at numerous points during the debate I counted five or six uncomfortable blinks of his eyes to every single blink from Kerry. And there was an item or two that he probably should have left out (in addition to the too-obvious pounding on the podium – sure means it when he says he doesn’t do nuance). I was astonished to hear him deny that he’d ever said he wasn’t worried about Osama bin Laden. I was stunned by his assertion that veterans have VERY good health care (probably not the ones who were billed for their meals while hospitalized with injuries from Iraq, OR those threatened with the closure of their nearest VA hospital). I was staggered by the bald-face lie that so many of the tax cuts went to the middle class, and the stillborn attempt at a smack at CBS (a throwaway half-line about how it’s not credible to quote leading news organizations – “well, never mind”). I was blown away by his statement that he’s not into imposing his beliefs on anyone else (you don’t? Well, if it isn’t you, it sure is all your buddies who want to), and the codespeak to those same friends and supporters about the “armies of compassion” and the prayer that brings him “calmness” in the storms of the presidency.
I especially loved Bush’s declaration of love for the ability of people to bid their own contracts – he was talking about domestic issues but it made me yell at my TV – “like Halliburton?” Perhaps the best of all, after the “I never said I wasn’t worried about Osama” comment was his snickering dismissal of accountability on the subject of health insurance costs. “Who’s responsible?…I sure hope it’s not this administration! Heh-heh-heh.” Yes, we know. George. Yet again you’re going to do your damnedest to insist that you couldn’t possibly have made a mistake or been even partially at fault. Again, Bush, like Cheney before him, provided enough holes for his opponent to drive a Hummer through, but Kerry left these pretty much untouched. Maybe it was better to finesse them – leaving them as embarrassments hanging out there for all to see, like so many forgotten trouser zippers.
Kerry clinched this one, too. Yes, there was too much tedious number crunching – on both sides. But Kerry came off credible, prepared, informed, capable of handling any kind of fastball, and eminently warm, human, and accessible. What I saw was a display of the attributes I want to see in a President of the United States – how he comports himself, how he handles challenges, stress, uncertainty, and adversity, as well as openings for one-liners. I want more than smirks, smarmy, artificial smiles, whining, pablum and pat answers that suggest there was no thought put into them. I want someone who truly is presidential, not a guy who just plays one on TV – that is, when he’s not making excuses, avoiding responsibility, gaming the system, fudging the facts, misleading the faithful, or running off to another taxpayer-funded vacation.
Bush needed to hit this one out of the ballpark to get back on top of the game. He didn’t. Kerry needed merely to stay alive. He did, plus a little more. And what America finally got to see, at length, of John Kerry, is hopefully what we’ll all get on Election Night.
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