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 [...]
If the 2000 Gore-Bush campaign was all about the “fuzzy math,” the 2008 campaign is shaping up to be about the grammar gremlins. So far, they show no party loyalty. The problem dangler has appeared in several major speeches since the conventions opened on August 25 and they continue just about every time the candidates [...]
Another flip-flop. No, not McCain’s or Obama’s. Mine. Because I was going to be vacationing during the Republican convention, I had decided not to blog about either the Democratic or Republican convention. It’s not that I didn’t plan to be watching all the major speeches of both parties, but it’s that I didn’t plan to spend [...]
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 [...]
Those of you who read my blog regularly know that I try to stay clear of politics in these posts—except as candidates or issues themselves illustrate communication issues. Here’s one of a handful posted in the last year that meet that criteria—above the fray, illustrative, inspiring. While watching an interview with presidential candidate John McCain [...]
Everybody spins. I’m not knocking it. If we didn’t spin, we’d never get a date, a mate, an employee, a job, or a contract. Spin is putting the best face on things. And that’s just what the presidential contenders did late Tuesday evening and Wednesday, coming off the grueling campaign trail to hear the voters’ feedback in [...]
