Vice-Presidential Showdown

The performances in Thursday night’s vice-presidential debate could not have been more different, and I think the results will confirm this in the coming weeks. Sen. Joe Biden, running mate of Sen. Barack Obama played it cool during the debate, taking questions calmly, not reacting to Sarah Palin’s antics, playing to his strengths and answering questions fully, completely, concisely, and with great effect. He exhibited his outstanding skills in foreign policy, and clearly showed how he agrees and is strongly pushing Obama’s domestic and economic policies. Sarah Palin, on the other hand, was a mess of a debater.

While she successfully exceeded expectations—not exactly surprising, given that the “bar” for her was basically sitting on the floor—she still exhibited a complete lack of understanding regarding even the most basic issues facing the United States. In addition, her performance seemed scripted, making it clear that she’d been studying notecards and memorizing one-liners for weeks.

I sincerely hope (and I feel that they do) that the public will see through the “gosh-darn-its” and “heck yas” put on by Sarah Palin. From the perspective of someone who grew up in a town of 7000 in the middle of rural Kentucky, it’s hard for me to hold it in: these cutesy, small-town colloquialisms are insulting, condescending, and only serve to exacerbate the fact that she has no idea what she’s talking about. Her only strategy, and her only hope, is to dress up her speech to try and make her look like your average, everyday soccer mom. Distinctly unimpressive. Not to mention the fact that she rarely answered the questions asked of her.

The one moment that made me literally stand up and cheer for Joe Biden came when he was speaking of the death of his first wife and two daughters, and his efforts to raise his family and keep them strong, together. Even while getting a little choked up, Biden made what I think was the most important point of the entire night: “The notion that somehow because I am a man I don’t know how to raise two kids on my own… I know what its like to raise a child where you are not sure he’s going to make it.” He gave a simply astounding performance, coming across as 100% genuine and devoted to restoring our country to its former glory, before the Bush years.

Image Courtesy of McCain-Palin 2008.