Tag: expectations
Expectations and Preemptions - Obama Camp Frames Debate
Raising expectations, goading McCain aggressions, inoculating issues, pre-rebuttals on issues, and repeating talking points; the Obama pre-debate memo sure is busy.
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MEMO: John McCain's plan to "whip" "That One's" "you-know-what"
TO: Interested Parties
FR: Bill Burton, Obama-Biden Campaign National Press Secretary
RE: John McCain's plan to "whip" "That One's" "you-know-what"
DA: October 15, 2008
In tonight's debate, Chuck Todd of NBC News says, McCain needs to "figure out how to disqualify Barack Obama." Time Magazine's Mark Halperin writes, "McCain will have to produce a major memorable moment." The NY Daily News says the debate is "do-or-die for McCain's campaign." However they put it, people agree, John McCain needs a game-changer.
On the big issues, this debate is one last chance for John McCain to do what he has failed to do throughout this entire campaign: explain to the American people how his economic policies would be any different at all than the failed Bush agenda he has supported every step of the way. It's his last chance to somehow convince the American people that his erratic response to this economic crisis doesn't disqualify him from being President.
Just this weekend, John McCain vowed to "whip Obama's you-know-what" at the debate, and he's indicated that he'll use Bill Ayers to attack Barack Obama. Even though Senator McCain has said he doesn't "give a damn" about Bill Ayers, his campaign has admitted that if he talks about the economy, he'll lose.
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: innoculation, Obama, pre-debate debate, pre-spin, expectations
VP Debate - First Reactions
Quick read - late night version: Wow - this was, or at least seemed like, a fast paced, almost frantic debate. Although I initially thought that the words per minute would be substantially greater in this 90 minutes than in the 90 minutes of the first presidential debate, it turns out that we heard only about 600 more words from the VP debate.
Joe Biden was superb, turning in a debate performance for the ages. Given the dangers that lurked for him in this debate, this is no understatement. Sarah Palin prevented calamity or as former Bush administration official, Matthew Dowd put it, she "survived" the "death spiral." So who won?
More beneath the fold...
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: Palin, Biden, VP Debate, Washington University, expectations
Hillary vs. Barack: Tonight's Hollywood Feature - "Spoiling for a fight?"
The last two standing, Clinton and Obama, face off tonight, CNN 8:00 pm (EST), at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, Calif., home of the Academy Awards. Highland and Hollywood, the Kodak's address, is close in proximity to Simi Valley's Reagan Library, but worlds away. The GOP debate held last night and Democratic debate tonight will be back-to-back on the schedule but may be light years away in character.
"Spoiling for a fight" may best describe what the media is looking for in, arguably, the long primary season's most important debate. However, overt confrontation would be a disservice for both candidates. Momentum, feeding or stemming, seems more important than sanctioning more news cycles of "petty sparing."
The Clinton camp has reason to nip speculation of defensiveness or worry; the Obama camp risks conceding the high ground that underwrites his very rationale.
Other media outlets are also previewing tonight's debate.
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: Democratic debate, CNN, Preview, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, expectations
The Metadebate
Metonymy
the use of a word for a concept with which the original concept behind this word is associated (Wikipedia)
In the metadebate (the narrative that runs across the stump speeches as well as the formal debates), two metonymic words deserve greater attention:
CHANGE and EXPERIENCE.
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: primaries, narratives, expectations
