Every debate has spurred its overriding story. The first debate caught Obama “napping,” as the president himself joked at the recent Alfred Smith gala. The walk-away story of the vice presidential debate was Joe Biden’s body language. The spin-off of the second presidential debate proved to be the contentious nature of both candidates as they [...]
Evidently, the President found some Gatorade after his first debate. The contrast proved startling between his first and second debates. Both candidates showed up sharp, sure, and solidly prepared. Result: A spirited debate with few blunders. This is the kind of debate that makes an executive communication coach like me have to pay close attention. [...]
For those of you who missed the presidential debate earlier tonight, Romney made his coaches proud. Obama needed a few more scrimmages. Jim Lehrer struggled most of all—to hold each candidate to the time limits, to cover all the six segments planned, to keep candidates on topic, and to get candidates to engage each other [...]
Obama failed to show up last night. He called in his speech—the one from 2008. And that one was superb. If you don’t believe it, go back and read my blog critique from four years ago. Last night he delivered virtually the same speech, but with less passion and fewer plans. As an executive speech [...]
Joe Biden has probably been the butt of more political jokes than any candidate since Republican VP Dan Quayle. But tonight at the DNC, Biden did Obama proud. In fact, he delivered one of his finest speeches. As an executive speech coach and business communication author, I offer the following critique of both his content [...]
Bottom-line: Style: A Substance: C It’s not that I didn’t like what the President had to say; I did. But the speech summarized apple pie, motherhood, and the American dream. What’s not to like? With the exception of a few brief lines, everybody in the chamber could have applauded every word, had they not been familiar with the pending legislation [...]
The setting of tonight’s debate created a civil interaction that will be central to fence-sitters for the next three weeks as they lean this way and that. Having the presidential candidates sit eyeball to eyeball in proximity to each other and the moderator tempered both their body language and tone. (Obama’s smirks and head tosses eased into wide [...]
After media interviews earlier today in New York to predict what would happen on stage tonight, I raced home from the airport with only 30 seconds to spare, grabbed a pen and paper, and flipped on the TV to see the candidates spar again. Anticipation. Excitement. Anxiety. I turned off the TV 90 minutes later, disappointed and [...]
I’ve been watching too many of those office-supply commercials—the one where the woman tells her colleague just to hit the “easy” button. I caught myself watching the debates, wishing for a fact-checker button every time the candidates disputed each other about their past statements, positions, or promises. (At one point as I flipped through the channels after [...]
It was an historic night all around. Obama and McCain joined each other on the same platform for the first time during the presidential race. But more important than that, they did not face each other in a challenging, tit-for-tat confrontational style. Neither did those who analyzed the debates afterward dispute and disparage each other [...]
