Foot Schleppen

By J.M.Z

Before reading my review of the forum I recommend viewing it for yourself. It is about two hours long, but it is really worth watching if you value your vote.

You can watch it by hitting the link here.

Or you can read the transcript here.

The Saddleback Political forum hosted by Pastor Rick Warren successfully met its goals in allowing the viewing public to get to know both the presumptive candidates for President better.

And unlike most debates it really was good television.

It should be known from those who have read my past postings that I have concerns with both Senator McCain (here and here) and Senator Obama (here and here) , so my analysis is purely on their performance in conveying their message.

McCain looked the better, really?

Short answer, Yes!

I was greatly surprised by the way the evening went. Senator McCain, the cranky grandpa was direct, humorous and articulate and in touch with the issues (i.e. drilling), whereas Obama was at times pensive, evasive (i.e. abortion) and though he too had his strong moments (poverty) he really struggled with some of the questions.

Heartland American does not believe in a postmodern America

Even though he is a Christian, even though he is says he is a proud American when it comes to the hotbed issues such as abortion, gay marriage, stem cell or even the wars in the middle east Obama struggled because he is a postmodernist first, everything else second.

Developed by atheistic philosophical thinkers Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche a postmodernist believes there are no absolutes. A postmodernist believes that all opinion is of value, none above any other. As a result there is no right or wrong. They believe than each situation has a valid explanation. Basically a postmodernist will argue they are right because no one can be wrong (except someone who does not believe in postmodernism.)

Academia loves postmodernist thought. They love it because it allows schools here and around the world to talk for years on end about things without ever trying to come up with a working solution.

Oh one other thing they believe the powerful are the enemy.

And there is no one more powerful than America.

Though this ideology might play well in Harvard or the New York Times, even if Obama was to articulate a postmodernist viewpoint well he would come off as a European snob, and if he expressed these viewpoints poorly it would come off as anti-American.

This night he did it poorly.

Obama showed his post modernist thought all night in the way he answered. For example.

• When asked about abortion he deflected, answering that knowing the right answer was “above his pay scale! He answered like this because though his faith tells him abortion is wrong his postmodernist ideals tells him that though the baby will be killed he cannot dismiss the freedoms of the pregnant women. Furthermore, who is he to define life at conception, because there are different opinions that seem valid from a certain point of view. Pay scale, no more like vote scale!

• When asked about whether there is there evil in the world Obama responded “yes” (which was good), but then he said we “see it in Darfur and in the streets of Detroit” he basically said it was as bad here is it is over there. (Senator you might wanna watch the news once and awhile) You might think Obama is really out of touch by saying that but in reality as a postmodernist he is not able to define one place as better than another, so regardless of the genocide in Darfur the fact that we might have some problems means we have the same problems.

• When Obama stated that “trying to do good can lead to evil consequences” he obviously was commenting on the war in Iraq. Again Obama was noting as a postmodernist we as Americans tend to arrogant about being right all the time, and who are we to say our way is better? (Um… i don’t know, stable government, great economy, freedoms of religion, all for hundreds of years. I think I will!)

Outside of these thoughts his performance in conveying his message was poor. Obama stuttered and erred in answering almost every question, and though some might have defended it as him being thoughtful the reality was it made him look unsure of himself.

He fumbled the ball more than once, for example when he answered he would garner the opinion from his “uneducated grand mother” he looked naïve. (You really are going to ask your grandmother what to do to improve our economic situation or on how to deal with Russia?)

The other example was when he said that the Supreme Court justice he would not have voted for was Justice Thomas, stating his lack of experience as the main reason was just comical since Obama has been arguing for months that we all should ignore his total lack of experience.

McCain is now a conservative - really?

Quick answer: Doubtful.

McCain has built a career by being the media darling riping fellow republicans, annoying the religious right and being dubbed the maverick.

And yet even Rush Limbaugh would have loved him Saturday night.

This night he either had an epiphany of conservative thought or learned how to play one very well. There really was a high level of pandering (or flip flopping depending on what you prefer to call it) going on. The man who hated the President’s tax cuts, was for allowing illegals to become future U.S citizens now was sounding like he was a student of William Buckley.

After years of branding the religious right as intolerant, last Saturday night he was acted as if he was one of them. And yet on performance alone he was far better than Obama. Why?

Because he was coherent. He was straight to the point. When he told a story it had a purpose (like his time praying with North Vietnamese Christmas morning). He called evil evil and did not waffle when discussing hot bed issues. He would have made every postmodernist in Europe cringe.

Americans love that.

McCain record beguiles this new found faith in conservatism however to be sure, but he does believe in absolutism, as apposed to his postmodernist opponent. His answers were direct. He had no problem answering question in one word answers, whereas Obama showed a need to explain every answer.

The funny thing about debates us the one who wins is not only because of what they say but how they get their message across. The one that looks and sounds Presidential usually becomes President.

McCain looked like he knew what he wanted to say. He looked and acted like a President.

Other than McCain’s need to call everyone in the room “my friend” about 700 times (you think this could become a new college drinking game. McCain said “my friends again, drink a shot!) he was put on an impressive performance.

Conclusion

Obama certainly hasn’t lost the race by any means. However, after hearing for months that John McCain was going to have zero chance, and that the base of the Republican Party was not interested in voting for him, he did much to start winning them back over. Even CNN noted in their analysis Obama will have to greatly improve if he wants to meet his goal to become President. He will have to be clear with his ideals and learn to convey them.

The race has truly now begun.