Saddleback a comfy fit for McCain

Pastor Rick Warren (center) with candidates John McCain and Barack Obama at Saddleback Church Saturday. (Mark Avery/Reuters)

WHAT DOES the joint appearance of Barack Obama and John McCain at Saddleback Church in California Saturday portend for the fall election debates? Although the candidates shared the stage for only a fleeting 36-second photo op, their back-to-back interviews with the Rev. Rick Warren provided a preview of what voters can expect when the traditional presidential debates begin next month.

Neither Obama nor McCain is a natural debater. For all his rhetorical skill, Obama has been only fitfully effective in televised debates, largely because the constraints of the medium work against his instinctive tendency toward nuance. McCain feels comfortable with town hall forums and talk shows, but not the formal setting of a structured debate. In this sense the Rick Warren interview, with its intimate mood and live audience of approving parishioners, handed the Republican candidate a home-field advantage.

That edge notwithstanding, McCain outshone Obama in defining and achieving his objective. In any big-ticket event of this nature, a candidate must simultaneously address a variety of constituencies: the moderator, the live audience, the multitude of viewers at home - and, in a very different way, the news media, who arrogate to themselves the task of scorekeeping.

At Saddleback, McCain won the media game hands down: exceeding expectations, generating pithier sound bites, delivering folksier anecdotes, cracking more jokes, and detonating more applause lines. Small as such triumphs may be, they serve as benchmarks for how members of the press judge the event and reinterpret it in the days to come. These interpretations, in turn, shape voter perceptions.

McCain's superior sense of showmanship could prove important in a debate, not just to journalists but to audiences as well. On Saturday night McCain directly addressed the folks in the church pews, whereas Obama engaged in an intellectual colloquy with the moderator, placing a filter between himself and the spectators. Though different formats will be employed in the fall debates, it is interesting that at Saddleback Obama opted for a relatively circumspect communication approach.

McCain displayed another skill of enormous value: seizing his opportunities on live TV. He turned a generic question about moral choices into a confessional tale about his imprisonment in North Vietnam. The danger here is overkill, as McCain demonstrated by sharing a second anecdote from that same period of his life that crossed the line into mawkishness.

McCain left little doubt that he is willing to pander, which means Obama had better prepare for the debates accordingly. Throughout his hour upon the stage, the Republican nominee signaled his strategy for the upcoming matches: tough talk, flag-waving, and quick-fix promises. Obama, by contrast, walked a more cerebral path, giving thoughtful answers that lacked the bluntness and simplicity of McCain's red-meat one-liners.

McCain still made his share of mistakes. Answering Warren's request for a one-minute pitch on "why I should be president," the candidate ended up sounding as spontaneous and sincere as a digital telephone operator. McCain must be careful in the debates not to morph into a walking, talking campaign commercial. Furthermore, a moderator tougher than "Pastor Rick" is likely to pop some of McCain's airier rhetorical balloons.

Democrats have reason to gloat over the brief photo op at Saddleback that positioned the rivals side by side. Obama's negotiators would be wise to lobby for as much candidate interaction as possible in the debates, because physical metrics clearly favor the younger man. Next to the sleek show horse Obama, McCain resembles a bantam rooster at the county fair.

More good news for Obama: the gray hair he has picked up on the campaign trail adds visual gravitas.

Obama will undoubtedly study the video from Saddleback Church to gain a sense of his opponent's moves. At the same time, he needs to sharpen his message and learn to feed the media the dramatic moments it craves. Obama must also work on his "strategic empathy" to establish an emotional connection to the audience.

Obama can take solace in one thing: Heading into the general election debates, McCain's performance at Saddleback Church makes it nearly impossible for Republicans to position their man as the underdog.

Alan Schroeder, an associate professor in the School of Journalism at Northeastern University, is the author of "Presidential Debates: 50 Years of High-Risk TV" (Columbia University Press).