October 3, 2008
Editor's note: NPT asked two El Pasoans with a keen insight into politics -- and an overt political bent -- for their take on the Palin-Biden debate. For a different view, click here
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Like many Americans across the country, I tuned in to watch the Vice Presidential debate between Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware and Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. I'd been looking forward to the debate since the selection of each of the seconds by their principals.
Questions surrounded each of the candidates as they prepared for the debates. Could Biden keep it short and not say something stupid? Could Palin avoid another Katie Couric interview bomb and silence the Republican Party elders calling for her to quit the ticket?
Each of the candidates faced a significant downside to a bad performance at the debate. If Biden won, he was supposed to win. If he lost badly, the Obama-Biden lead in the polls would quickly disappear. If Palin repeated her recent performances in interviews the McCain-Palin campaign would be dead in the water.
But only one candidate had the chance to achieve the upside of the debate. If Palin did anything but bomb, it was a success for the McCain-Palin ticket. She could in affect win, by not losing.
Every four years people say that this is the most important election in our history. That phrase is used so often that is approaching the point of being a cliché. However, this election may actually be one of, if not the most important elections in our nation's history given the economic and international conditions.
That point added to the importance of last night's Vice Presidential debate. Palin came out of the gate stating that she wasn't going to answer questions the way moderator Gwen Ifill wanted them answered but rather talk directly to the American people. A rather strategic foreshadowing of her strategy.
Perhaps Gov. Palin should have considered actually answering a question posed in the debate last night. She ducked questions with a skill and grace not seen since Muhammad Ali rope-a-doped George Foreman. Some say that is the mark of a skilled debater, but Gov. Palin came across as someone holding on for dear life and not willing to expose her own liabilities. Perhaps her opening remark was a way of hedging her bets.
Sen. Biden appeared to be doing all he could to contain himself from his usual debate demeanor. When someone tries to go against their better nature, it often spells disaster. But one cannot deny, even through Biden's occasional ominous grin, that Biden showed a far deeper understanding of issues and the intricacies of government and diplomacy.
Biden answered questions with facts in a controlled and comfortable manner demonstrating his knowledge of the issues. The governor of Alaska also replied with statistics and facts, but had to shuffle through a pile of index cards to find the right one, like I did in high school when I crammed before a test. This made Gov. Palin look like someone who'd done a lot of home work, but didn't really know the issues. She appeared artificial, saccharine, and pre-packaged. She seemed to stick to a script that consisted of maverick, maverick, maverick, reform, reform, reform, America, America, America.
Palin comfortably used plenty of colloquialisms like "you betcha" and "dog gone it," gave a couple of winks to the camera, but lacked any depth of understanding on the issues. She comes across as folksy, but at the expense of credibility.
When in trouble, Palin has a defense mechanism that is straight from the Republican "We-own-patriotism" Playbook. When faced with a difficult question, Gov. Palin reverts to mentioning America, American, or U.S. as many times as she possibly can in one sentence. She did it last night several times, in fact I lost track at around 40. In her closing statement alone, (surprisingly short by the way) she used the term five times.
I was troubled by the fact that Gov. Palin continued to display a rude, sarcastic, Devil-Wears-Prada posture throughout the debate. In fact, she actually wore red stiletto heels.
Though she didn't blow it, Gov. Palin was a long way away from actually winning the debate. I watched the debate and only saw one potential President of the United States on that stage. Though the phrase, "a heart-beat away from the presidency" is often used, this Vice Presidential debate was all the more important because of the fact that the winner of the election will either be the first African-American in office, or a man in his eight decade. Either case represents a real possibility of the Vice President having to take over if either are, God forbid, assassinated or die in office.
Palin proved one thing. If she's scripted and has time on a Sedona complex to prepare, she can hold her own. Unfortunately she won't have that kind of buffer if she made it to Washington. Do you really want someone with a wink, sarcastic remark, and only a passive knowledge of the issues a heartbeat away from the White House?
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Jaime Abeytia is a Democrat, writer and Chicano activist. He is the author The Lionstar Blog.