Bush Bounces Back in Spirited Debate

After a lackluster performance in the first presidential debate, President George W.Bush was forceful and focused in last night’s debate, an encounter marked by the most direct accusations yet.

Sharing a stage at a town hall style debate at Washington University that was supposed to focus on demestic issues, the most dramatic moments nonetheless came as the candidates circled back to Iraq. Senator John Kerry, emboldened by polls shifting in his direction and by a week of bad news for the President on Iraq, repeated twenty-three times that the President is “out of touch” with the reality of the situation in Iraq and with the American people. But it was the President who had the sharpest words: “On September 10, America maybe could have gotten by with politicians. After September 11, America needed a leader. I am that leader. My opponent is still just a politician who’ll say whatever he has to to get elected.”

Unlike the previous debate in which the President was perceived by many as being tired, irritated or unprepared, President Bush was direct and upbeat last night, at one point asking the moderator, Charles Gibson, if he could give a “big ol’ Texas hug” to the woman whose question Gibson had just read. “That’s not in the 32-page agreement you both signed,” Gibson said. “I know,” said the President playfully, “but sometimes a hug is more important than some old rules. Senator Kerry, John, you wouldn’t say no to me giving that woman a hug, would you?” As Kerry looked flustered and speechless, Gibson denied the President’s request. The woman’s question had to do with the conflict between Title 12 of the Medical Aid for America Act and provisions of the Employee Reimbursible Tax Code.

Senator Kerry repeatedly tried to paint a picture of the President as “dangerously out of touch,” “protected from the truth by a coterie of advisors who believe they can reshape the world and history unilaterally.” In response to a question about No Child Left Behind, the Senator again turned the topic to Iraq and the previous debate, saying, “You continue to misrepresent, even here tonight, what I said in plain view of all America. You’re not deaf. You’re not dumb. And you were there [at the debate]. So, America has to conclude that you’re misrepresenting my words on purpose.”

Senator Kerry, seeming not as comfortable with the town hall style debate as with the format of the previous debate, was perceived by many as stiffer and more condescending than his opponent who seemed to find his sea legs. For example, PResident Bush prefaced his responses to many questions with an expression of sympathy or light remark. While the President made a habit of referring to the questioner by his or her first name, Kerry looked directly at the home audience and delivered unaltered portions of his stump speech. In one response that seems likely to be excerpted by the Republicans for their ads, the Senator waved his finger rhetorically at “those who would harm this country” but was caught by the camera as seeming to wave it in the face of the questioner who looked alarmed by the gesture.

“This was not Kerry’s best night,” admitted a senior aide to the Kerry campaign off the record. “The format favored President Bush who, one on one, is charming and likable. We’ll be watching the tapes very carefully.” Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Bush/Cheney campaign committee, said: “America tonight saw the Bush they know and love: A world leader who speaks plainly and is working every day to keep them safe.”

At the debate, the candidates answered questions about health care, education, stem cell research, the Patriot Act, the environment, the economy, race relations, and what advice they would give to their favorite baseball team.

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