Enemy Combatant
Saturday, October 09, 2004
A Gertrude Stein Riddle: Why Is Bush Like Oakland?
Scott Rosenberg, who blogs at salon.com, had an interesting insight after last night's debate, about how Kerry invariably benefits (and Bush invariably loses ground) just from the media exposure alone:
Kerry's prize, just for showing up!
I imagine the Bush people are happy tonight -- this debate wasn't the obvious rout the last one was. But I still think the essential dynamic here helps Kerry. The problem for Bush is simple: The more time he spends in front of the American people in a forum that is not handpicked and tightly controlled by his own handlers, the more it's clear that there's nothing more to Bush.
If you already support him, well, you already support him, you're probably not going to change. If you're a Kerry supporter, like me, you're just going to keep shaking your head in disbelief. So all that matters is the slim wedge of people outside of the two camps. And with each debate, those people are seeing that, with Bush, that's all there is, folks. His lines are writ in stone, and we've heard them already. Here they were again: "He changed positions." (As if that in itself were a crime.) "I know how these people think." (The line reeked of dismissive condescension in the first debate, yet here it was again: does it play to the know-nothing xenophobic heartland?) "We've already got 75% of al-Qaida."(Oh, so why are we so worried about a terror attack? Ah, that's right, we got 75% of the leadership as of 9/11/2001 -- then we gave them some real effective recruiting help by invading Iraq.) Love him or hate him, you couldn't come away from this debate feeling that you'd heard or learned a single new thing from Bush.
Meanwhile, with each debate Kerry gets to display more of himself, gets to prove -- simply by virtue of showing up, being fast on his feet and articulate and smart and able to stand up for himself -- that he is nothing like the insane caricature of himself that the Bush ads have portrayed.
The time Bush spends in the spotlight diminishes him; the time Kerry spends in the spotlight enhances him. Since a political campaign can't hide the candidate, this leaves Bush in a bind. No wonder Kerry's strategists were willing to compromise on so many details of the debate formats to get Bush to commit to a third engagement. On to the next debate!
