Obama & McCain: Eye to Eye

Granted, I'm watching the replay of the debate through partisan eyes ... but the seemingly intentional lack of eye contact by McCain in the debate looks incredibly creepy. I'm not one to dive headfirst into the psychoanalysis of why McCain does that, but it certainly looks like we got a glimpse of his what passes for his soul for 90 minutes.

Eugene Robinson tracks with my thoughts on seeing the same thing ...

Throughout the 90-minute debate, McCain seemed contemptuous of Obama. He wouldn't look at him. He tried to belittle him whenever possible -- how many times did he work "Senator Obama just doesn't understand" into his answers? His body language was closed, defensive, tense. McCain certainly succeeded in proving that he can be aggressive, but the aggression came with a smirk and a sneer.

...

Demeanor and body language have been important in every debate I can think of, so I can't imagine why they wouldn't be important in this one. The candidate who projects affability and optimism is usually seen to have bettered the candidate who projects resentment and gloom. If that is the case with tonight's debate, Obama won and McCain lost.

Markos notes a few others who got this impression.

For a debate that seemed to register no proverbial knockout punches and certainly seemed like a long hard slog to suffer through as a viewer, McCain's appearance might be a possible hint of why the initial snapshots (and obligatory Luntz focus group) seem to give the nod to Obama. No telling. It's hard to capture intel like that in realtime. Could just as easily be the fact that watching a Republican talk about foreign policy these days is sorta like watching an opposing football team run a touchdown the wrong way. By all means, continue to talk about Iraq, Sen. McCain.

If there's one tendency of Obama's that I find unnerving, it's his hesitancy in delivery in moments like these. Again, go back to my point about McCain having a better sense of the moment he's in. McCain's not exactly Ronald Reagan, so for that comparison to stand in his favor is telling of Obama, who comes across more like Obama the law school professor - he knows the material, but he's not quite sure of the pacing and presentation that goes into the flow of the classroom. Nothing lethal about it, perhaps (hopefully). But for a guy looking to close the sale, a bit more self-assuredness could go a long way.

It'll be interesting to see what happens to the poll bouncing that goes on after this. October 2nd is the Biden-Palin showdown. Between Palin's incoherence and Biden's inability to keep his answers shorter than a Neal Peart drum solo, this one at least promises to be entertaining.

ADDITIONAL TAKES:
Fallows notes the eye contact issue (which means I'm at least in decent company on this).

Michael Crowley notes McCain's sense of moment ...

A key element to political speech is colorful detail and anecdote. McCain is better at that. The story about defying Reagan on the Lebanon deployment, the bracelet belonging to the mother of a dead soldier, the firing of Chris Cox, the bear DNA. These things breathe life into policy positions and prevent the eyes from glazing. It's something Obama could learn to do better.

Ezra Klein gets pretty much both points on target.

K-Drum shares my disdain for having watched the whole sordid affair. (again ... good company to be in!) We also seem to share a bit of the confusion over the decidedly pro-Obama insta-polls. Weird. Usually when I agree with anyone this much, I find it best to either change my mind on everything or send Drum an email admitting that it was me that killed his childhood kitten. Just to add some entertainment value, of course.

Nate Silver tries to break it all down for us as to why the instapolls went with Obama. Eh ... it's a bit wonky and I gotta be honest here. I really don't care quite that much. (ed. note - And yet, you blog?)

Ben Smith has an interesting observation that the press folk thought McCain won before being stupefied by the instapolls. Hmmm ... press favoring McCain??? Why, that's unpossible!!!

The LA Times manages to find 14 Pennsylvania voters who give McCain the edge. Hey, several thousand more of 'em and he's got a shot!

The LA Times also has the best liveblog recap worth re-reading. At times, pretty prescient:

Obama, who in the past has frustrated fellow Democrats for not being more sharp-edged in responding to GOP attacks, may come in for more such criticism for not more directly responding to McCain's general theme tonight. Indeed, several times he said he basically agreed with McCain's critique on various foreign policy issues. GOP operatives can be counted on to take every opportunity to make note of that -- and to argue that if that's the case, why settle for him instead of McCain?

Indeed, that's the first video press release the McCain camp slapped together after the debate. And yes, the lack of a killer instinct is precisely one of the flaws some of us saw in the guy earlier in the year.