As a hard-charging John Kerry finished his closing statements, George Bush knew he had been beat. Reality was closing in for the kill as Bush delivered his final tepid argument. For the first time in almost four years as the most politically insulated president in memory, Bush was without a clever soundbite, whispering adviser or damage-control wizard. Left to his own faculties, the president could do little more than visibly labor, belabor his scripted catch phrases and make failed metaphors about labor. Debating John Kerry, the president discovered, was truly "hard work."
John Kerry might as well be a magician. In 90 minutes, he turned an overconfident incumbent president into a grimacing outsider looking in. In the meantime, the senator showed Americans a side of himself that we had never seen: decisive, concise and forceful.
During the second half of the debate, John Kerry had the president on the run. Stripped of the initiative, the president's debate performance devolved into a close approximation of a Bush caricature. The president slumped over his podium and appeared visibly anxious as Kerry pressed his charges. Bush frowned, furrowed his brow, rubbed his face and occasionally issued a smirk to open his rebuttals. When Kerry spoke, Bush squirmed and winced. When Bush spoke, Kerry appeared attentive, and he took notes.
On at least one occasion, the president practically screeched, "I know!" when responding to one of Sen. Kerry's observations. The tone and volume of Bush's curt retort were those of a man who felt insecure and cornered. The president's face betrayed the stress of trying to make pre-prepared sound bytes counter an opponent who was thinking on his feet. Even MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, an unabashed Bush partisan, admitted that the president seemed to have nothing to say even when he asked moderator Jim Lehrer for extra discussion time.
Bush repeated the phrase "hard work," when describing the situation in Iraq, even when the term made for a completely inappropriate response. Faced with Kerry's charge that the United States is bogged down in Iraq, the president issued a statement as callous and emotionally vacant as Michael Dukakis' famous rape response; Bush said, "I know it's hard work, I read the casualty reports every day!" Apparently, Bush understands urban warfare and the pain of bereavement because he reads statistics.
John Kerry left nothing to chance. He ensured that this debate would be remembered as a Kerry victory -- not just a Bush loss. The senator defined himself as a master of the security question. When asked what he saw as the greatest threat to American security, Kerry's response was instantaneous: nuclear proliferation. When pressed on his once nebulous position with respect to the Iraq war, Kerry proved his powers as a communicator; there was a right way to do Iraq and there was a wrong way to do Iraq. Bush chose wrong. Kerry twisted the dagger by contrasting his four-point plan for Iraq with the president's "four words, 'more of the same.'"
When Bush tried to repeat the administration's nonsensical belief in "coalition" commitment to Iraq, Kerry stopped that spin dead in its tracks. The senator correctly argued that we don't have a real coalition because the overwhelming majority of casualties, troop strength, and funding are American. Kerry pressed his attack by challenging the president on his failure to halt real nuclear weapons programs in Iran and North Korea. The president stumbled and stammered as he attempted to bridge the obvious gap between his tough talk and the reality of rogue states flaunting nuclear programs with impunity. John Kerry dominated Bush with his command of the facts and a commanding stage presence.
This debate was unique in the recent history of campaign forensics. Presidential debates are generally farcical pageants with little conflict, little impact and little substance. The political punditry leading up to this debate reflected the media's sad over-emphasis on the one-liners and gaffes that generally define the winners, losers and most memorable moments of these staged encounters. This debate bucked that trend.
There was no single gaffe that cost Bush the win, and there was no crushing "zinger" that ensured a Kerry victory. John Kerry's victory was comprehensive. He won this debate on style and substance. His delivery was better and his message was less repetitive than the president's. This debate will not be remembered for one candidate's rolling eyes or irritating sighs. Nobody will be recycling any quotes like Ronald Reagan's age joke. Neither candidate sweated profusely.
This contest was a surprisingly honest moment in an election season groaning with oblique accusations, spin and half-truths. Talking points, statistics, and positions can be scripted and skewed. However, poise, wit, and presence are innate. The better man won. How cool is that?
