Who Won at Saddleback

Take it to the bank: look for Republicans to pounce on Sen. Barack Obama’s statement that it is above his ”pay grade” to determine when human rights begin for a human being.

That’s because here at the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, all that civility talk ended about 90 seconds after the Civil Forum. And the spin room was immediately heated up by Republicans like Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback and Gary Bauer — remember the former GOP presidential candidate? — who both talked up the statement, and suggested that it represented curtains for Obama with evangelical voters.

”There was an audible gasp in the room,” said Bauer. ”Someone in the audience said, my goodness, as president of the United States, that is probably the most important thing that you should have a concept of.”

”The point is about clarity..McCain saying human life begins at the moment of conception and Obama trying to punt,” said Brownback.

Both GOP conservatives argued that McCain’s performance was one that would bring evangelical voters home to him.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=14&entry_id=29184

 

Rich Lowry writes:

In the first fifteen minutes, McCain had established a moral seriousness stemming from his conduct in Vietnam as a POW and his long-time as a national leader that Obama can’t match. Throughout the rest of the night, he brought up Iraq, al Qaeda, and the Georgia crisis, when Obama was more inward-looking. McCain sounded like a potential commander-in-chief, Obama more like a potential friend.

MCCAIN’S BACK IN THE SADDLEBACK

From NBC’s Chuck Todd

Quick first impressions: Obama spent more time trying to impress Warren (or to put another away) not offend Warren while McCain seemingly ignored Warren and decided he was talking to folks watching on TV. The McCain way of handling this forum is usually the winning way. Obama may have had more authentic moments but McCain was impressively on message.

This was a mistake Obama made a few times during the primary season. On one hand, it can make a moderator feel good when their subject actually tries to answer every question and take into account their opinions on a particular topic. And Obama’s supporters will email me tonight and say this is what they love about him.

And yet, this reminded me of the many comparisons we made between Obama and Hillary Clinton. She was much more effective at answering questions in 90 seconds and always staying on message while Obama too easily allowed himself to get knocked off his talking points. Remember, Obama doesn’t need to win over his supporters, he needs folks who are just now tuning in.

Take the VERY first question Warren posed to both candidates: who are three people you’ll depend on for wisdom in the presidency. Obama seemed to answer this in a very personal way, talking about his wife and grandmother. McCain went right to this message, checking boxes on Iraq (Patraeus) and the economy (Whitman) for instance. Now, I’m betting Obama’s answer came across as more authentic but McCain’s was probably more effective with undecided swing voters.

The two answered the Supreme Court justice question VERY differently, with Obama seemingly trying to say a nice thing or two about justices he disagreed with, while McCain went right to pander mode in his answer. And yet, McCain’s straightforward answer easily penetrated while Obama’s did not.

Every Obama answer was certainly thoughtful enough but he seemed to want to explain himself too much and went out of his way not to offend folks who disagree with him.

Don’t get me wrong, this will play well with some but McCain’s directness and snappy answers that were on message allowed him to look commanding on that stage.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/08/16/1270330.aspx