Barack ‘Steve’ Obama & friends
This is from a few nights ago. McCain and Obama both spoke for ten minutes at the Alfred E. Smith memorial dinner. McCain’s routine is pretty good value, but for my money Obama edges him on material and delivery. You’ll need to have been keeping up with the campaign in order to enjoy it, but, if you have, it’s well worth the ten minutes.
Interesting to note that there’s not one mention of Sarah Palin by either candidate. I get the impression the Obama camp have taken a conscious decision to leave her out of it, given that Obama avoided any direct references to Palin during each of his debates, and Biden was very careful in how was seen to handle her at the VP equivalent.
The effect of this has been to leave her looking as marginalised as the angry right-wingers her rally performances appeal to, undermining her ability to gain any real traction with the middle ground, where this election is being fought and the outcome will be decided.
This has worked particularly well because John McCain himself hasn’t made any effort to counteract it. Watching him try to defend his choice of Palin on Letterman, I think he’s happier than anybody to keep her off the agenda, and to restrict her media presence to a fleeting cameo on Saturday Night Live. That’s probably also worth a look, given that it’s apparently comedy hour on Idea IS the format:
Tags: election 08, obama, palin
