Palin Passes: Personality, Plus Track Record
Governor Palin and Senator Biden had obviously listened to all the TV pundits give them tips this past week about “what they had to do” to deliver a knock-out punch tonight.
Biden’s would-be advisers continued to tell him: 1) Be respectful. Don’t be patronizing. 2) Attack McCain; ignore her. 3) Tie McCain to Bush’s record.
The pundits’ advice to Palin going into the debate: 1) Relax and be yourself. Connect with the people. 2) Understand the big-picture policies and answer the questions from that frame of reference and your own experience. Don’t try to go head-to-head with Biden on the specifics of all his foreign policy experience and travels. 3) Get aggressive on Obama’s record.
Apparently, both candidates took the advice to heart. They both scored well on all objectives.
Palin scored points on style when she…
—set up a friendly tone for the debate. With her microphone live as she first entered the room, she grasped her opponent’s hand and asked, “May I call you Joe?” She complimented him often, telling him that she respected him for voting his convictions about the war, mentioning the dedication of his wife as a teacher, and mentioning his family’s sacrifice with a son in the National Guard.
—demonstrated her self-confidence. Relaxed body language. Smiling. Looking comfortably at her opponent, even when disagreeing. Using humor effectively: “Say it ain’t so, Joe. There you go again, talking about change, but looking back at the past.” She referred to the third-graders getting extra credit for watching the debate. In the end, she commented that the debate had been “fun” and wished for six or seven more.
—connected with the audience. Here, she was the strongest, mentioning several times commonalities with the average family—their concerns, values, and views about healthcare coverage, paychecks, energy, and national security.
Palin scored points on substance when she…
—took a broad general question generally applied only to McCain’s views and weaved her own experience into the response, such as in her responses about cutting taxes, dealing with the big oil companies, and working in a bipartisan way in her own state.
—pointed out inconsistencies between Obama’s and Biden’s voting records. (Example: When Biden attacked McCain for giving “tax breaks to the big oil companies,” Palin shot back with, “Obama voted for those big tax breaks for the oil companies you’re talking about. I had to take on those big oil companies in my own state.”)
—reframed questions aggressively as opportunity to bring up issues that she wanted to highlight. (Example: On the question about whether Iran or an unstable Pakistan was more dangerous, she reframed to the issue of Obama’s stance on meeting with leaders of rogue nations without pre-conditions.) (Another example: When asked about her Achilles heel that the moderator capsuled as “inexperience,” she reframed as a summary of what she brought to the McCain ticket: her middle-class values and views, her executive experience with energy issues, her track record in reducing taxes and cutting government waste, and her outside-Washington perspective.)
Palin lost points when she…
—went back to talking points rather than respond to the specific question asked. (Example: The question on nuclear weaponry.)
—kept repeating the phrase “we’re mavericks.”
Biden scored points on style when he…
—treated Govenor Palin just as any other debating opponent—respectfully—without regard for her gender (contrary to what many had feared because of debates in past presidential races).
—gave concise, crisp answers to the questions asked.
—appeared relaxed, confident, seasoned.
—looked presidential. No doubt, his physical appearance is certainly what we’re used to seeing in the White House.
Biden scored points on substance when he…
—selected precise words to shape thinking and drive home key themes. Examples: In talking about Obama’s tax plan, Biden referred to it as “fairness for the midddle class” (versus Palin’s reference to it as “re-distribution of wealth”).
—elaborated on specific foreign policy legislation he has sponsored and trips made to various countries.
Biden lost points when he…
—lapsed into doublespeak and argued about data and controversies that the average viewer doesn’t know about or care about.
—failed to give his personal views in response to questions. Many, if not most, responses began with, “Barack thinks…” or “Senator Obama’s position is” or “Senator Obama’s record shows that…” Viewers walked away with the feeling that Biden has not quite bought into Obama yet. (One exception: At the close, he did mention knowing what it was like to be a struggling single parent raising children alone and about hard times when his dad lost his job when Joe was a child.)
I called the first debate a draw. But from a communication coach’s perspective, this one I’ll give to Palin.
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