One thing that many networks were wagging about after the first debate was how many times Obama said "John is right" or statements to that effect. The concern was that if he agreed with John too many times then it would appear that he and John McCain agree on almost everything and that John McCain has the right agenda for the election (or whatever was the concern..please feel free to leave a comment about your concerns). They said a debate is to show the differences between the two candidates and how you try to punch holes in the other side's policies and stands.

 I think it was another brilliant move by Obama (actually might not have been pre-planned for that matter), and one that I suggested earlier in my original 'master strategy article'  it is a big mistake to criticize Bush and McCain for everything under the sun. The democratic campaign strategy and public speeches for the past few years were limited to one line "This problem was caused due to the policies of  Bush (and later McCain too)". It had become so repetitive and stale that "the dog ate my homework" became "I did not do my homework due to the wrong policies of Bush and McCain". If you repeat the same lines and the same attack strategy over and over again you tend to lose credibility (which the democrats did as they were perceived not to have any new ideas and all they did was criticize Bush) and the attack rationale tends to wear off and might even boomerang back at you.

The only way you can make your attacks effective is by agreeing with your opponent a few times. After agreeing on a few minor points you gain credibility and the voters' conviction when you disagree strongly on other policies and they will believe you a lot more. Especially when you are smart and agree on statements whic buttress your own policy (like Obama did when he agreed with the torture of prisoners policy of McCain). It will also make you look like an objective, fair and magnanimous person in the voters' eyes and not like typical politician who blindly criticizes everything his opponent says.

For example, going back to the master strategy article I mentioned that one of the things Obama can appreciate Bush and company for is to say they have done a good job of preparing for Gustav and I'm glad they did not repeat the management disaster of Katrina. This makes him look genuine and at the same time reminds people of Katrina. Now, two days later if he turns around and blasts Bush for the economy or for being weak on terrorism (yup, try hitting them from the right) by not catching Bin Laden yet, people will give more credibility to his attacks.

There was one point in Yesterday’s debate (besides others) for which the democratic strategy team and Barack Obama deserve accolades of the highest kind. One area where the democrats always used to bend down in the face of republican shrewdness was in projecting themselves as supporters and true friends of our troops and military, especially when it came to the Iraq war.  The republicans made support for the war synonymous with patriotic sentiment and painting anybody speaking against the Iraq war or calling for withdrawal as unpatriotic, weak, cowardly, defeatist and accused them of murdering the honor of the country and disrespecting the soldiers who laid their lives for the country. Even John Kerry and his campaign team could not come up with a equal response even once and ended up slipping into the republican’s trap whenever they tried to talk sense into people and tell them that it was a mistake to go for this war.

John McCain shamelessly tried using the same tactic again when he talked about getting a bracelet from a fallen soldier’s mother (I’m not disputing that he did) and used that as a emotional hammer to justify support for the war and implying that anybody who called for withdrawal was dishonoring the soldiers who gave up their life in the war. I think it is indeed sad that the parents and relatives of some brave soldiers who gave up their lives for the country, even after facing such a monumental loss in their lives, do not still fathom the enormity of war, the devastation it causes to so many innocent people on both sides and how going to war to is a decision of last resort under extreme circumstances which was not the case for this war. Instead of being be hit with the bitter reality that their loved one laid down their life bravely completing the mission of the commander-in-chief (and his cronies) who deceived them and the nation into this war, which had nothing to do with 9/11 or any immediate threat like they were told. Instead of realizing that despicable minds and horrible judgment were responsible for this tragic loss they get into the mindset trap of  ‘We should complete the mission my loved one was fighting for’ and anybody who calls the war a mistake is insulting my loved one’s sacrifice.

Navigating a political minefield of this kind, that the republicans set up, required great tact and a brilliant mind. You can’t say that you respect the soldiers’ sacrifice but still think this war is a mistake. You can’t say that the brave soldiers were misled into an unnecessary war because you would be implying that soldier was fighting in vain. You can scream till you’re blue in the face that you are actually supporting the troops when you’re calling for a withdrawal, because all the war did was to place Americans outside of our secure borders (after going through all that effort to secure our borders after 9/11!) so that Al-Qaeda could get some easy target practice and not even have to bother think of ways to get into our country, for Bush made it easy for them and brought the targets out but you still will not able to outfox the republicans and make a winning argument of that. Kerry and his team didn’t even come close to figuring out a way out of this political maze (Kerry had the authority to speak on this topic as he was a veteran but he miraculously managed to make being a veteran a liability for him), let along come up with a good counter-argument.

Any ordinary candidate would be fumbling for a response after McCain, following a brilliant Rovian script, came up with the bracelet tale and cleverly turned it into an appeal to American patriotic sentiment to win renewed support for his Iraq stance. To be prepared for such an approach from McCain in itself speaks volumes for the Obama campaign’s preparedness. But what was just sublime about Obama’s response how he started it, though the rest of the response and the delivery was exceptional too. He started off by giving an equal and forceful response to the bracelet example by stating that he received a bracelet too and that soldier’s mother also asked a promise from him that no other mother would have to go through what she’s going through. That took the wind out of McCain’s emotional drama and created an equally emotional and compelling appeal for ending the war. The quality of that response and such a magnificent ‘tit for tat’ back and forth is unique in modern debating history. Obama then followed that with another magnificient truth that would connect with and appeal to every man and woman. He said that ‘no solider’s death is ever in vain’ and the simplicity, beauty and truth in that statement would have to be acknowledged by every person watching the debate. He then made the perfect finish by tying McCain’s example to the very fact that it makes it even more important for the president to have good judgement especially when it comes to going to war because that is such an enormous step.

After that response I could almost feel the body blow that Rove must have felt and the wind coming out of the republican campaign’s most resilient manipulative play, of using bluster and exploiting americans’ patriotic sentiment to generate support for the Iraq war and war measures/laws and denounce everybody speaking against the war or any legislation regarding the war as traitors. Even though the number of people supporting the Iraq war has fallen since the 2004 election it is still a very important topic and it was still crucial for Obama to come up with a compelling argument putting forth his view which he did unimaginably well. Hats off to Obamaand his campaign team.

P.S: Further Kudos to Obama for not getting rattled by McCain’s shockingly rude behaviour on stage. If I was the moderator I would put the debate to a stop after observing such condescending behavior and despicable actions like ignoring a person and looking askance when that person is talking to him as if the person does not exist or does not matter. Again that kind of unspeakably lowly behavior is unparalleled in the US debate history.

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