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Last night's town hall debate will more deeply damage the bush campaign and how history views him than did even the first debate. Despite what the media or polls might say today, people know what they saw last night. The first half of the debate, mostly concerning the Iraq war, was dominated by george bush--dominated by his hostility toward not just John Kerry, but toward all those who might question him. His overwhelming belligerence could not be contained by the walls of the auditorium and, like a bursting dam, spilled into every home in America.
We have never seen a president as ugly as the one we witnessed last night. Lost deep within his megalomania, bush continually yelled at the audience, berating them for their doubts, both spoken and unspoken. The pounding waves of his anger toward a public that does not worship him were palpable and unceasing. Some audience members, looking increasingly uncomfortable, must have felt as if they were being physically assaulted. A number of times as Kerry walked back to his seat after speaking, bush would glare at him. It was not a cold, icy stare, but the wired, wild-eyed grin of a psycho killer on speed. Incredibly, bush even gave this same freaky glare to an audience member before he had even begun to ask his question, daring him to express his honest thoughts.
Thankfully for the audience--and the nation--John Kerry was there to rescue them from the president's angry attacks. You could almost see the audience collectively exhale when it was Kerry's turn to speak. Early in the debate, Kerry was strong and firm when he spoke. But as bush's belligerence increased, Kerry seemed to make an improvised adjustment to his own tone. He spoke at a lower volume, softer and more intimate. After the audience was yelled at by bush, Kerry would calmly come forward to comfort them. He offered the audience a steady voice of reason and compassion, a way out, an escape from the dark future being foretold by george bush.
After george bush's performance last night, I questioned my own strong support of Howard Dean during the primary campaign. I was repulsed by george bush's anger last night, yet I loved Dean's fiery speeches. Was I not just seeing them both through my own partisan lens? But thinking about that question clarified for me what was so frightening about last night. Dean's speeches were directed at the powerful and the damage they had done to people's lives. At a time when people were told to watch what they say and watch what they do, Dean's voice galvanized the Democratic Party in opposition to power. Last night, however, we saw the opposite--the anger of those in power toward their subjects that dare question them. I have never seen anything remotely like this before. What sitting president had ever spoken to the nation in this way?
The president's rabid performance--in a town hall setting, no less!--was a black mark on our nation. Commentators have politely offered that he was playing to his base. What base is that, the lunatic fringe? For undecided voters hesitant to vote for him, bush only accentuated their concerns about him. He added no new supporters last night. John Kerry, on the other hand, was even more impressive than in the first debate. His composure, his grace, his pitch-perfect temperament stood in stark contrast to the hostile george bush. For undecided voters who didn't know him well, John Kerry's presentation of himself must have been reassuring. He offered them a strong, reasonable, caring man, a man fully in control of himself, a man they wouldn't mind having in their living rooms for the next four years, a man fully capable of meeting the challenges that await him.
When John Kerry wins the presidency, Howard Dean's place in history will be secure. He made the Democrats a better party, and John Kerry a better candidate. He was the right man for that moment. But Kerry's performance in these two debates have shown that the right man is now carrying the Democratic baton to the finish line on November 2. And to a concerned nation, it has become increasingly apparent that John Kerry is the right man for these times in which we live.
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