McCain & Obama: To See or Not to See

A funny thing happened on my seemingly eternal voyage through time to vote for Barack Obama for president. After all the controversy about John McCain’s divisive and hypocritical (to me) running mate at the Republican Convention last week, the actual presidential candidate finally had the stage all to himself. I was at work during his nomination acceptance speech and, although I didn’t have access at the time to television, I heard his entire address, courtesy of Public Radio. And I was very impressed by his down-to-earth, slow, and clear presentation. He spoke to the audience in a paternal, but not patronizing manner (reminding me a bit of good old (late) Fred Rogers of Misterroger’s Neighborhood fame) that was reassuring and confidence-inspiring. I came away from listening to that speech thinking that he had hit a home run, to be sure. And then I went home and turned on my TV.

Naturally, the news channels were focusing on the last day of the Republican Convention and were replaying McCain’s speech. But instead of being entranced by it, as I watched McCain I became more and more irritated by his visual delivery. He seemed very uncomfortable and made a nuisance of continually batting his eyes whenever he wanted to make a point. As a matter of fact, just about everything I saw about him belied everything that I had heard from him. Suddenly, what had at first seemed like a great speech had transformed into a rather humdrum, mediocre one.

I’ve heard that, when John F. Kennedy debated Richard Nixon in the first presidential debates in 1960, a similar phenomenon occurred. Polling done immediately after the debate showed that listeners who only heard the debate on the radio generally felt that Nixon had won, but those who had seen it on television were convinced that Kennedy had won. What a difference between television and radio!

And I think that Barack Obama also presents a different effect on the audience, depending on whether it is a television or a radio audience. I’ve heard him on the radio, and he often seemed to be a little disoriented and grasping for words. But when watching him speak in similar situations, his face and mannerisms skillfully supported what he was saying and contributed to a feeling of empathy and understanding between him and his audience.

Try it some time: when either McCain or Obama are on TV giving a speech or an interview, first close your eyes and critique their audio output. Then open your eyes and see if your reaction doesn’t drastically change. I think it will! Of course, with McCain you may understandably choose to keep your eyes closed!