Presidential Debates

A Politico article entitled "Debate coaches: McCain must up game" states,

Top national debate coaches, though, say that McCain made many easily corrected mistakes in the first two debates.

McCain “meanders through the substance of his arguments,” often “getting lost and having to revert back to simple themes,” University of Kansas debate coach Scott Harris said.

Harris added that McCain has allowed Obama to “look more knowledgeable” by simply delivering “clearer arguments.”

While Obama is widely perceived to be a more gifted speaker than McCain, the Democrat was “very rough in the primary debates,” Wade said. “He had an idea about what he wanted to say but didn’t have the concise language to say it.”

But having emerged from the crucible of 23 primary debates, he has “found his groove” in the general election campaign, according to Wade. “There was a lesson in every one of those debates, and he internalized them.”

Obama’s general election debate performances have demonstrated classic signs of coaching, said the debate experts, such as enumerating his answers, using McCain’s arguments to make his own points, and pivoting quickly from the question that was posed to the question he’d prefer to answer. The Illinois senator is also much quicker to offer facts and statistics than McCain.

And Obama smiles whenever McCain attacks him, making him look “more agreeable … [and] more reasonable,” Wade said.

McCain, the debate experts said, has been making classic mistakes that could be fixed.

During both debates, the Arizona senator has struggled both to clearly argue his own point and to rebut those of his opponent, despite 16 primaries of his own to hone his performance.

“Part of the trick in coaching candidates is to have them get to the damn point,” Louden said. “Whatever you can say in five minutes, you can say better in 30 seconds.”

McCain's Aimless Wandering: