IIRC, we were watching ABC, and the talking heads afterwards were really quite positive -- some said that Obama was simply better, and even the conservatives (most notably George Will, with an inevitable baseball metaphor) basically implied that Obama had won by tying. (That is, since this was the debate that was *supposed* to be McCain's to lose since it was in his supposed area of expertise, Obama basically beat the conventional wisdom.)
Really, the part that surprised me was that the commentators *all* basically agreed that Obama won the emotional argument -- that while McCain showed a fair amount of warmth on-stage, he also looked less comfortable, and really messed up the eye-contact side of things. Which wasn't at all the impression that I got, but I am more than happy to be considered wrong in this particular instance.
(My favorite line from the commentariat was the description of this as the debate between "the tweedy professor and the national scold": a bit exaggerated, but rather on-target...)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-09-28 11:49 pm (UTC)Really, the part that surprised me was that the commentators *all* basically agreed that Obama won the emotional argument -- that while McCain showed a fair amount of warmth on-stage, he also looked less comfortable, and really messed up the eye-contact side of things. Which wasn't at all the impression that I got, but I am more than happy to be considered wrong in this particular instance.
(My favorite line from the commentariat was the description of this as the debate between "the tweedy professor and the national scold": a bit exaggerated, but rather on-target...)