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SADDLE BAGS

There is a lot of shit being written about the two conversations held by Preacher Rick with the presidential candidates.

I watched it on line.

First of all, the talk of winning and losing, it was not a debate. Never was.

Each candidate got to answer a set of questions that had been cooked up in advance.

Second thing. It was a setup made for McCain. The questions were right down his alley.

That is not unfair. It is reality.

McCain did a pretty good job of answering them. So did Obama.

It was not set up for Obama to hit any out of the park. He was not going to change his position on abortion. He was not going to say that he approved an anti-gay marriage amendment to the US Constitution. He was not going to hit any home runs with this group. But they were polite and receptive. He got some nice applause.

He did get to say, again, that he is a Christian and while his way of saying it makes me squirm, it was pretty clear that he has the language and the moves that these people share. He had to make ground against the rumors that he is not what he says he is.

I think that he also became human to them. He mentioned his sins. He talked about faith. He was very much to the point about where he puts his Higher Power in his life. This has to be good.

McCain on the other hand did a stump speech (even though Obama was explicitly asked not to do that), McCain was not. It was not a conversation. He did not even face Preacher Rick most of the time. He looked out into the crowd and played to it.

That is OK. It is all fair game.

I hear that, despite the agreement that McCain would be in a 'cone of silence' while Obama went on, that he was not.

That is OK. So he was prepped. Or, as they claim, not.

It doesn't matter much.

I think that Obama did not have to do this and he did. I think that he really could not lose and he did not. I think that he might even have made some incremental progress with this group of fundies who, admittedly, are in the middle of their cohort and not on the right fringe at all.

I came out thinking it was just fine. And no one will remember it in a week.

Labels: Barack Obama