Obama pulls ahead after the first debate

What happened

Barack Obama moved into the lead in the presidential race this week, propelled by a solid debate performance last week against John McCain and by voter anxiety about the economy, an issue on which he is rated better than McCain. National polls showed Obama has, on average, a five-point advantage over McCain and roughly comparable leads in several swing states, which is similar to the standings prior to the party conventions. Polls found that more voters believed Obama won the debate, and they gave him high marks for being “presidential” and “honest.” McCain retained his standing as more “experienced.”

Without ever looking directly at his opponent, McCain repeatedly portrayed Obama as naïve and uninformed, especially about foreign policy. He mocked Obama’s pledge to pursue direct diplomacy with Iran and North Korea. “I don’t need any on-the-job training,” McCain said. While taking a generally more conciliatory tone, Obama said McCain was “wrong” on the Iraq war. After McCain trumpeted his support for last year’s troop surge and said Obama had been wrong for opposing it, Obama replied: “John, you like to pretend like the war started in 2007. The war started in 2003.” Though the debate was intended to focus exclusively on international issues, the first half was consumed by the financial crisis. McCain vowed to cut spending and rein in earmarks, while Obama blamed years of Republican aversion to regulation.

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Polls this week also showed declining support for McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, after her rambling, sometimes incoherent responses to questions posed by CBS anchor Katie Couric.

What the editorials said

Partisans hoping their candidate would clobber his opponent in the first debate came away disappointed, said the Los Angeles Times. Neither Obama nor McCain landed knockout punches. Instead, both men proved themselves intelligent and capable. “If they traded points on substance, the two men clashed more viscerally on style.” McCain was tough and feisty, Obama cool and confident. There was no loser—but no winner, either.

“Some nuances excepted,” said The Washington Post, the two candidates are a lot closer on the issues “than their sometimes sharp exchanges suggested.” Both are well versed on substantive matters and although sometimes guilty of “misrepresenting each other’s positions,” they agreed on the need for U.S. strikes against the Taliban and al Qaida and that Russia represents a growing menace. In fact, when it comes to Iraq, North Korea, or Russia, neither would “stray far from the policies they would inherit from President Bush.”

What the columnists said

A tie is a victory for Obama, said Mark Brown in the Chicago Sun-Times. Before the debate, many voters worried about his ability to lead. By holding his own against “his more seasoned opponent,” Obama passed a crucial test. The expectations were higher for McCain, who is supposed to be the foreign-policy expert, said E.J. Dionne in The Washington Post. His failure to press that advantage “eliminated McCain’s best chance to deliver a knockout blow.”

But McCain’s sharp jabs at Obama kept knocking the younger man back on his heels, said Craig Gordon in Newsday. Obama, by contrast, “let McCain get up off the mat, drawing blood far less” often. If McCain can keep Obama on the defensive in the weeks ahead, he’ll show “why any signs of overconfidence in Obama’s camp are premature.”

There’s only so much ground McCain can cover while he’s carrying Sarah Pain, said Kirsten Powers in the New York Post. At the convention, it appeared McCain’s gamble in selecting this unknown governor might pay off. “But the interviews she’s done so far have made it crystal clear that she’s not ready for this job.” Her ignorance on everything from Hamas to the Supreme Court has produced a series of “cringe-inducing moments” that reflect badly on her, and terribly on McCain.

What next?

Obama and McCain will debate twice more before Election Day, taking questions from the public in the next debate and discussing the economy in their final meeting. “This election will stay close until the end,” said pollster John Zogby. But Zogby predicts that most undecided voters will break in one direction in the final days of the campaign, as they did when Ronald Reagan beat Jimmy Carter in 1980. Voters do want change, Zogby said, so it’s up to Obama to convince them that he’s qualified to serve as president.