debates thoughts

i woke up this morning a little giddy about the debate tonight. hoping that one of those moments that the older people talk about, reagan's amazing debate performance in '84 or JFK against Nixon in the 60's, might again occur. but, of course, it doesn't. the best debate moment i can think of in my lifetime was the soap opera make up al gore debate in 2000. otherwise, they have usually been pretty boring. well, cheney and edwards in 2004 was quite entertaining, but for all the wrong reasons. that was the night i realized that cheney really was too smart for his own good and could do incredible damage. maybe i should have realized that in the previous 4 years of the madness he and bush wrought on the country, but i didn't until i saw him look into edwards eyes and just tear him apart. but here tonight, once again, was a rather boring debate. a few good lines by hillary, the xerox one in particular, but overall it seemed like obama stood up and although i am severely biased, i think he looks better as each debate goes on: more presidential.

returning to the cheney/edwards debate in 2004, the format of that debate is something that I haven't seen this year. that old scary white man and the coifed lawyer were sitting across from each other, looking at each other when they desired or at the audience. clinton and obama, however, are always seated next to each other, and can't truly look face to face. many times tonight obama sat quietly looking down and taking notes as hillary spoke. it would be awkward, and possibly inappropriate to look down if the person across the table was making eye contact. i wonder if hillary would be able to say the combative lines she tried tonight if sitting across the table from a person she claims to respect?

it is like talking to somebody in the car, versus discussing something at dinner. a friend of mine once told me that the best conversations she had with her boyfriend occurred on long car drives. he, it seems, felt more comfortable talking about his feelings when he could look straight onto the road instead of into her eyes. for a while i thought that it might be a good idea to hop in the car anytime a serious conversation arose. that would waste a lot of gas. i believe there is a saying that if you can't say something directly to somebody, then you shouldn't say anything.