Emotion Vs. Reason
I think you can judge the entire debate based on the opening statements of the candidates:
McCain:
Americans are hurting right now, and they’re angry. They’re hurting, and they’re angry. They’re innocent victims of greed and excess on Wall Street and as well as Washington, D.C. And they’re angry, and they have every reason to be angry.
Obama:
I think everybody understands at this point that we are experiencing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. And the financial rescue plan that Senator McCain and I supported is an important first step. And I pushed for some core principles: making sure that taxpayer can get their money back if they’re putting money up. Making sure that CEOs are not enriching themselves through this process.
John McCain was angry and he talked about anger. He was more emotional as a person and the argument for his presidency has become fundamentally emotional: heroism, patriotism, anger, frustration, irritation, fear, panic, risk
Barack Obama was very cool and steady and tried to focus on policy. He was reassuring, refused to bite when McCain baited him, and hit home his main points on the economy, health care, and education with clarity and poise.
It is surprising to me that folks are responding more to the unflappable policy wonk than the emotive war hero. This goes against the typical ideas of the strong leader, and is the polar opposite of what happened with Gore and Bush eight years ago, when the joke about Gore being a robot is what effectively killed his candidacy.
It says something about our times, certainly, with our financial meltdown and foreclosure crisis and two wars and the rest of it. But I think it also speaks to the fact that maybe people are questioning their emotional responses: one immediate legacy of Bush, beyond how much damage he’s done to the Republican brand, may be that he highlights to people that you can like a guy but still find his Presidency a devastating embarassment. Maybe folks look at McCain and say, well, I like that guy more, but the last time I voted that way, I was screwed.
If that is the case, part of the reason that Obama is winning is not because he is speaking about policy, but because he has won the argument that we SHOULD be talking about policy. He has managed to convince people that in these times its important to vote with our brains, and that he’s the right guy for that vote.
There is some irony here. Obama won the primaries based upon very strong rhetoric and some hopeful idealism that had, at its core, a very emotional pull. His public persona before the convention was the lofty speaker who glossed over specifics, but he has pivoted substantially into the serious let’s-talk-numbers guy. It is pretty remarkable, when you think about it.
The differences between the approaches of the two candidates come through in their closing arguments as well. McCain focused a bit on experience, but there is a lot of emotional code in here: prosperity, safety, security, service, honor, pride. Note how much he makes it about himself:
All of these things and all the promises and commitments that Senator Obama and I made (inaudible) made to you tonight will base — will be based on whether you can trust us or not to be careful stewards of your tax dollar, to make sure America is safe and secure and prosperous, to make sure we reform the institutions of government.
That’s why I’ve asked you not only to examine my record, but my proposals for the future of this country.
I’ve spent my entire life in the service of this nation and putting my country first. As a long line of McCains that have served our country for a long time in war and in peace, it’s been the great honor of my life, and I’ve been proud to serve.
And I hope you’ll give me an opportunity to serve again. I’d be honored and humbled.
Obama concludes with specific policy proposals and talks about the difficult road ahead, how people will have to come together to get through it, and he talks negligibly about himself:
But we’re going to have to invest in the American people again, in tax cuts for the middle class, in health care for all Americans, and college for every young person who wants to go. In businesses that can create the new energy economy of the future. In policies that will lift wages and will grow our middle class.
These are the policies I have fought for my entire career. And these are the policies I want to bring to the White House.
But it’s not going to be easy. It’s not going to be quick. It is going to be requiring all of us — Democrats, Republicans, independents — to come together and to renew a spirit of sacrifice and service and responsibility.
I’m absolutely convinced we can do it. I would ask for your vote, and I promise you that if you give me the extraordinary honor of serving as your president, I will work every single day, tirelessly, on your behalf and on the behalf of the future of our children.
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