Both Candidates threw out a Joke last night.. one hit, one bombed..

[RoadRage]

Obama: "So what I've been talking about, in these speeches - and I've got to admit, some of them are pretty good." (Audience Laughs)

Clinton: "That isn't change you can believe in, it's change you can Xerox" (Audience Boos)

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I really think this is the BIG difference between these two candidates. They are very similar on substance.. small differences aside, they're democrats - and they both want these ideals to be instilled in America in the next 4 years.

The difference is totally in the delivery & approach. People LIKE Obama's delivery.. that goes to his speeches.. but also the way he presents himself off the cuff. He makes people laugh.. he makes people like him!

Hillary tried her own brand of humor last night, and it completely fell flat. People just do not warm up to her like they do Obama.. the people supporting Hillary for the most part aren't doing so because they like her personality - they do it because they like her policies.

And, that's the problem she's running into. Obama has her similar polices, but with a very likable personality to go with it. It's a combination that Mark Penn can't campaign against very easily.

I think those two "Jokes" thrown out last night show the biggest difference between these two candidates, because it's not as much about the jokes themselves - but about the public reception that they received.

[Arugula Latte]

1. I agree.

Charisma is an impossible thing to fake. I've worked with kids and noticed the incredible power of charm -- even on adults such as myself. One child I knew was the most magical little thing ... so adorable in every way. I was aware that I had a huge soft spot for him, and I'd try very hard not to favor him. Intellectually I KNEW to treat all kids the same, but putting that in practice 100 percent of the time is harder than it seems.

[RoadRage]

2. Yup.. Charisma is very under estimated.. and over-attacked

People think BECAUSE Obama has Charisma, he has nothing else. I sort of think it's like the icing on the cake.. very few people have icing - many have the same cake.

I dunno!

[nomorewhopper]

5. bill clinton's charisma got him elected twice

he was a nobody from arkansas, and arrived on the national scene with not much more than a great head on his shoulders and a friggin boat load of charisma.

charisma DOES count.

[bunnies]

3. the xerox comment was not a joke. It was an insult.

Big difference.

[RoadRage]

6. Well, my point was she was trying to get Laughs out of it...

she doesn't really throw out jokes, and this was as close as she came. The result was still the same.. as an insult - it also landed with a thud.. it didn't hit Obama, and people didn't like it.

[Occam Bandage]

8. The funny part is, she had gotten applause for a swipe just 30 seconds earlier.

With her "if you're going to make the campaign about words, they should at least be your own words" line, she drew applause. Then, emboldened, she tried her Xerox line, which led to only awkward silence. Obama says, "now, that's not what happened." Hillary pushes it. Audience boos her.

[bunnies]

12. Im not convinced that she was going for laughs though. Not at all.

Mostly due to the tone she took after Obama quietly responded, seemingly just to her. She raised her voice and became argumentative. "Well, YES IT IS BARACK"

On top of that... she delivered the line in a very accusatory even condescending tone. No smile, no smirk, no indication that it was anything but a stone being thrown. I believe she meant to hit him in the gut with it. At least thats how it seemed to me.

[RoadRage]

15. She might have been aiming for his gut.. but I think she barely hit his pinky toe..

in fact, i think she got much more hurt throwing it then he did getting hit with it.

[bunnies]

17. Agreed. I was in pain just watching it. Ouch. nt

[Araxen]

4. People know they all use speech writers from time to time

It was a totally stupid comment to make. "change you can xerox"

If it was me I wouldn't care how much I owed Mark Penn. He would have been gone after how much that bombed.

[PresidentObama]

7. Personality vs. policies? I'll take Clinton. People laugh at Huckabee, too.

[Occam Bandage]

9. It ain't either-or. It's one or both.

[Connie_Corleone]

10. Personality + Policies = Obama

The personality part has been missing in the last few elections.

Having charisma on top of the policy never hurts. Some Democrats need to get a clue.

[Alexander]

11. Just like they laugh at supporters who are obviously in denial about her getting booed.

:rofl:

[RoadRage]

16. People laugh at Huckabee for entirely different reasons...

My point in the OP, was that people get policies with Clinton. They are now seeing they get the same policies, with a personality that (the majority - NOT ALL) like with Obama. That is why he's winning.. it's his "edge".

Their platforms are for the most part apples to apples. Perhaps green apples to red apples - but apples none the less. The difference now is if you want the apples in a plain bag, or in a fancy box with a bow on top - all for the same price.

[goodgd_yall]

13. I thought the "silliness" season

was his most humorous line. I thought the line you quoted could be seen as a bit egotistical.

I've come to accept that Hillary has a tendency to "sting." The initial dismay I experienced isn't there anymore.

[Ino]

14. Her "jokes" can be rather mean-spirited.

More examples:

http://tinyurl.com/87y6l
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton apologized for joking that Mahatma Gandhi used to run a gas station in St. Louis, saying it was "a lame attempt at humor."

http://tinyurl.com/268hzk
White House hopeful Hillary Clinton joked Sunday Russian President Vladimir Putin, as an ex-KGB agent, had no soul, in the latest swipe at Russia from the 2008 campaign trail.... "This is the president that looked into the soul of Putin, I could have told him, he was a KGB agent, by definition he doesn't have a soul, I mean this is a waste of time, right, this is nonsense," Clinton said at a campaign rally.


http://tinyurl.com/3ylcrt
"Dave has been off the air for eight long weeks because of the writers' strike. Tonight he's back. Oh well, all good things come to an end."

http://tinyurl.com/ypz8ul
Hillary pollster Mark Penn said this morning that the campaign's much ridiculed effort to use a Kindergarten essay to prove that Obama had been calculating a run for president for a long time was just a joke.

[RoadRage]

19. Yup.. it's the delivery sometimes - not the joke (or comment) itself..

it's how the author has it received. Hillary's comments just are not as well received as Obama's are.

[jillan]

18. I didn't notice any applause for Obama when he said this:

When I released my plan a few months later, we were in a debate and Senator Clinton said we all want universal health care. Of course, I was down 20 points in the polls at the time, and so my plan was pretty good. It's not as good now, but my plan hasn't changed. The politics have changed a little bit.

Face it - people don't like this from either one.

Save the 'rub it in your face' comments and the ugliness for McCain.

[RoadRage]

20. Was he going for applause there??

:shrug:

My point in the OP wasn't to be nasty - it was to point out the differences in how the candidates are percieved.

[TheDoorbellRang]

21. That was his one awkward moment I thought

When I heard that last nite I wasn't even sure what he meant at the time. Reading it now, I get it, but I don't think it came out clearly enough last nite to make his point. By the silence in the audience I'm wondering if the audience was going "huh?" like I was.

Anyone note the CNN people meter at that point?