BY TAYLOR MARSH
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| Polls show Obama lead gaining, so he’ll likely be cautious tonight. |
Let basketball guy Obama show up tonight. Leave the cautious guy at home.
A robot just can’t dance with a cat. – Jack
Shafer
The picture above is perfect. Democrats should hope the youthful, vibrant, quick
footed, competitive athlete Barack Obama is on stage tonight.
Shorter, I want Obama to channel Bill Clinton:
In a recent paper, the authors portray Bill Clinton as the living genius
of the town-hall format. In 1992, the first year the presidential finalists
used the format, George H.W. Bush’s forces “simply practiced verbal arguments
and rebuttals” prior to the appearance. But Clinton’s people capitalized
on the rules that allowed the “debaters” to move about some. According
to Goodman, Gring, and Anderson, they “laid out a grid, complete with
fake cameras and doubles for his opponents and the audience, to train their
candidate to utilize space effectively.”They continue:
Americans were thus introduced to a new variety of political persuasion.
By positioning himself on the stage in relation with the background, to
his debate opponents, and to the live audience, candidate Bill Clinton encoded
the television image in a manner not seen in traditional moderator or panel
debates. He literally carried on a commentary through movements combined
with expressions, reinforcing his own oration and “invading” the
discourse of others.
Kerry couldn’t do that. Neither could Al Gore. Barack Obama just might be able
to come closest of them all.
Against John McCain, Obama’s athleticism, charm, not to mention his policy
prescription advantages, could make the 72 year-old McCain look like something
out of the 20th century, instead of what we need in the new era.
Shirt sleeves. Tie. A little hoops warm up game beforehand, so Obama’s ready. Any athlete knows that if you warm up like that before a performance of any kind you’re on your toes and everything about you changes.
Then unleash more of the pocket book talk Obama has recently absorbed internally and
been able to finally utilize so well. If this Obama shows up it would put this
race away.
McCain has to be at his best
tonight. Because without a game changer he’s sunk.
A political athlete with Obama’s gifts, if unleashed, is simply in a different league than McCain.
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