It’s the rhetoric, stupid: What Obama needs to do to win the debates
Erm, providing the debates actually happen, that is… But let’s say, for the sake of argument, that they will, eh?
Joseph Romm is posting a series of fascinating articles on The Huffington Post about debate strategy.
Part one sums up what Obama needs to do delivery-wise - in a nutshell: be a straight-talker, but not a smart-talker - and looks at who won previous presidential debates, and why. (Note: there are a lot of Shakespeare references. See, I knew we Brits had something to offer Obama!)
Part two talks about convincingly ‘framing’ your opponent; to successfully undermine him - by focusing and re-focusing on his character flaws - so that the post-debate spin goes in your favour. In Obama’s case, says Romm, it’s about making “the entire post-debate spin about the various lies and out-of-touch, intemperate statements that McCain inevitably makes”. This is a strategy, he says, that can’t lose.
Part three, promises Romm, “will focus on how Obama can use McCain’s character flaws to incite the hot-headed Arizonan to make the maximum number of mistakes and tell the maximum number of lies”. Ooh! Can’t wait.
Tags: barack obama, debates, huffington post, John McCain, joseph romm, Strategy