Left Flank

Tonight's presidential debate (.mp3 file) was newsworthy, yet ultimately irrelevant. Principally devoted to foreign policy, with a timely addition related to the current Wall Street financial crisis, neither candidate strayed far beyond previously consumer-tested talking points. That late edition favored Senator Obama, and he scored well before surrendering his advantage to McCain's one and only policy strength. And, as far as the performance aspect, although both candidates avoided their worst caricatures - McCain's grumpiness, Obama's lecturing - both also displayed stylistic weaknesses and strengths. John McCain often appeared unnecessarily rude and patronizing to Obama, but also put in his best live performance; Senator Obama spoke haltingly in response to attacks and often deferred, but also, like his nomination acceptance speech integrated bullet arguments within the flow of his presentation. Obama needs to punctuate his prose with stronger ledes and he is still as aloof as Fate. In that famous Kennedy-Nixon debate on September 26, 1960, television viewers pronounced Senator Kennedy the telegenic winner, while radio listeners noticed Vice-President Nixon's arguments. Tonight, Senator McCain is the performance winner, but the transcripts will reveal Senator Obama's nuance. National security prompts an unconscious sentiment to favor the aggressive, regardless of the merits of that disposition, and McCain, I believe polls will show, seems more commanding.

Yet, in the transcripts is where I will probably be most disappointed. Admittedly, as an expatriate and a student of International Relations, even my American foreign policy views take cues from a global, not a national perspective. American foreign policy since the fall of the Soviet Union has drifted, and after September 11, 2001, lurched from tense bipolarity to a jingoistic bravado about just how confident America is about its place in the world. It's a transitional period from bipolarity to multipolarity, and presidential campaigns are not the time to debate where America sits on the continuum. Energy independence, which means something in elections, is absolute nonsense in reality. Campaigning against the State Department and direct negotiations works in the election, but is nonsense. Wars, like World War Two and the Cold War, are good as rallying cries, but not as models for the August war between Georgia and Russia. Israel is always America's ally in the Middle East, but since its occupation of the West bank and Gaza and its acquisition of nuclear technology, its support and existence is no longer an unalloyed asset. Beijing's importance is controversial. Iran is a fact with nuclear technology. And, American foreign policy goes beyond all the topics in tonight's debate, including the Iraq War, to how the White House views the whole world, not just an episode at a time. President Bush had a terrible vision of the world fighting against «Terror», but now Washington's view of the world is no broader than the borders of Iraq. An accelerating frequency of crises resulting since 1992 from news cycle politics has forced the commander-in-chief to trade global priorities for pragmatic compromises, just to clear the weekly schedule. Neither McCain nor Obama challenged this myopic fixation focused on the one place where Washington is still important, the opposite ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Finally, the Wall Street debacle hijacked this debate. I was listening for what the candidates would do about the financial sector, and I was really dismayed by the unrealistic responses to Jim Lehrer's repeated queries about the impact of the debacle on the two candidates' platforms. But, in a broader sense, the Wall Street debacle has already done what the debates are billed as doing; it has become a test of leadership styles. These past two weeks are more instructive (and, I will blog later) about the two candidates than these debates could ever be. John McCain eventually won tonight because he should have. Foreign policy is the only topic where he has ever shown passion or ability. Where his instincts and boredom take him in subsequent debates is an appealing entertainment item, but the results will be foregone conclusions. Unless Obama foams at the mouth or stutters in tongues, or if McCain channels his inner grumpiness, the talking points, the attacks, and the sometimes irrelevant anecdotes about his itinerary will only increase, until Obama sounds like a German philosopher by comparison. Or, like my mother says, Cindy McCain will steal the spotlight with a $10000 dress, jewel, and cosmetics set. Hank Paulson gave us the October surprise in September, and now America can watch as all candidates reprise the best lines from this horrendously long, incredibly- and now foolishly- expensive, ultimately pointless election. The next four years are mortgaged to irrelevance.

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