For better or worse, so much of presidential debates hinges on the affect, the telegenic, and — sorry — the vibe. Unfortunately, Tim Walz, who is supposed to be running on “the joy ticket,” mostly looked very, very worried on Tuesday night. It was some combination of deer-in-the-headlights and terminally furrowed brow, amplified by furious note-taking. What happened to Coach Tim?
He needed some Ronald Reaganesque wry amusement over his adversary. Some humor. And even a little confident condescension toward his much younger opponent who, after all, only has two years in the Senate under his belt.
Meanwhile, Vance was determined, after all the pet-eating and cat-lady stuff, to come across as reasonable, decent, and un-weird. For the most part, he managed it. His only challenge was that he was defending a decidedly weird running mate. Try as he might, Walz didn’t manage to remind viewers just how nutso Trump is. Trump himself did a much better job of that in the previous debate with Harris.
A big part of the “affect” war in debating is who seems to be on the defensive. Vance over and over put Walz on the defensive. In fact, you would’ve thought Harris had been the President the last four years, not Joe Biden. Instead it was “the Harris administration.” Walz did not seem to have the necessary smarts to turn the tables.
I read that Walz, prior to Biden’s dropping out, had been positioning himself to run for President in 2028. He can probably kiss that aspiration goodbye. I just hope he and Harris haven’t also kissed winning in 2024 goodbye.
Vance made Trump seem reasonable, even moderate, which is a big time achievement, maybe even a magic trick. Now if they can just keep Trump under wraps until Nov. 4.
While Vance may have convinced himself and a few undecideds that Trump is sane, was effective, and would be again, his problem will be that if he and Trump win, Vance will discover that isn’t the person to whom he has harnessed himself.
Last night’s debate had a veneer of civility that has been notably absent in the campaign so far. In terms of substance, I do not think anything changed. Vance reminded me of a used-car salesman trying to hawk a lemon, while Walz was telling him that he was violating consumer protection laws.
I do not think that the Battle of the Veep Wanna Bees is going to have much impact on the election results.
Civility was a win for our democracy, but the debate allowed Vance the opportunity to demonstrate his public speaking chops, which are well-honed; so smooth in fact that he almost got away with telling Trumpy lies with a straight face and fake sincerity
Polished he was (and slick Wallz wasn’t), but for all that JD just showed how glib he could be when peddling Donald’s patent snake oil nostrums for whatever ails the body politic.
If the panels of undecided voters who watched and reacted to the debate in real time are a measure, Vance did indeed “win” the debate on smooth performance points. But he did notescape unscathed. His tortured inability ao answer the Waltz: “Did Trump loose the last election” question marked a lowpoint along with Mr. Kaiser’s point of the used-car-salesman slickness.
The basic point is that the likelyhood ofthe vop debate moving the needly, much less being remembered in the remaining month is somewhere between aero and nil.
Debates favor those who are fast on their feet, ready with canned, glib remarks. A thoughtful candidate will find it difficult to present a nuanced view in two minutes. Furthermore, the presidency is an executive position. This entails taking in information from a variety of sources, weighing competing interests, and discussing issues with senior advisers, cabinet members, and elected officials. Rather than being a know-it-all, the position calls for consultative abilities, and a careful consideration of all views.
Has there ever been a corporation that hired a CEO based on debate skills? I think not.
This one for me flashed back to a long forgotten VP debate between Joe Lieberman and Dick Cheney.
Lieberman’s friendliness allowed the dark and somewhat scary Cheney to appear almost folksy.