THE ICONOCLAST
A little too much repetition in debate?THE PRESIDENTIAL Debate Commission announced today that the second and third of this year's scheduled debates will no longer be necessary since both President Bush and Senator Kerry have already reached the limit of permitted repetitions. According to official transcripts of last Thursday's debate, the president several times referred to Kerry's "mixed messages" and alleged inconsistencies, but most often repeated the warning that one cannot lead while telling US allies, American troops, and the Iraqi people that this is "the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time," a caution he repeated, by actual count, 4,217 times. Senator Kerry was slightly more reserved, offering his own specific program -- "we can do better" -- 3,812 times.
There was no reported plan to cancel the one scheduled debate between Vice President Cheney and Kerry's running mate, John Edwards, but debate sponsors, assuming similar inclinations, are considering making that debate a mini-series that will run for five consecutive nights, beginning Tuesday. You saw it here first. Well, maybe not first, but at least you saw it here: The president can get snippy. Granted, it can be annoying when somebody is standing up there suggesting that you should have done things you think are nutty (substituting one-on-one talks with North Korea for broader multi-nation pressures, including heavy-duty involvement by China) but whatever W was doing behind closed doors at Yale, it didn't involve the kind of baseball one plays at a kitchen table with treys, fours, and nines wild. Senator Kerry may not have the perfect poker face himself (do the French play poker?), but compared to George Bush, whose every annoyance registered on Geiger counters across the planet, Kerry was a block of stone. So I'll repeat it. Mr. President, you gotta cool your jets. Remember what I've told you? Your asset is that people like you; but being testy isn't the way to keep that love comin'. Kerry, as Kerry does, gave you some things you could hit out of the park, and sometimes you did, but you can also do that calmly, Mr. President. Calmly. Those of us whose views are more closely in line with yours than with Kerry's are more likely to think that you sounded more presidential (because that must mean that our thinking, too, is more presidential) but the other guy looked more presidential. Kerry was forceful, but he didn't get flustered, didn't pound his fist or jab his finger into the offending air, didn't turn red or keep raising his finger for recognition. Work on it, Mr. President; you started pulling away in the polls because people seem to like your clarity and sense of purpose. But that'll flip on you if they begin to see you as Mr. Angry Man. Kerry's got a lot of work to do to convince voters he's a better alternative: Don't help him. Continued... |
