Posted by
KsReaganite on Saturday, August 16, 2008 10:57:56 PM
Even before I touch on the substantive aspect of the Saddleback Forum tonight, a key difference in style emerged between the candidates. It is a difference that is not surprising but perhaps had not been in the public eye with such glaring spotlight: Barack Obama is very post modern and lawyerly in his long drawn out conversations whereas John McCain reflects the Cliff Notes, to-the-point approach to dialogue, as befits a military man with an English-Scots heritage (remember the dour Scots Calvinists). In that love of brevity, Senator McCain is a man with whom I can identify. I don’t like long drawn out conversations, emotional greetings and goodbyes, or even endless phone conversations (no wonder my favorite method of communication is the email). Doesn't mean McCain doesn't care or doesn't have feelings..it just means that he perhaps keeps to the Biblical precept that 'too many words are not of the Godly'.
But many Americans in this generation do worship the spoken word (even when they cannot form a proper sentence in English..never mind any other language).
We live in an era where ‘talk’ is king..there are talk shows and talkathaons, and we are told to ‘talk it out’ no matter what the issue is. Every problem, even when there isn’t one, is assumed to be fixed by a visit or two to a counselor/therapist/social worker/shrink etc. I mean we, as a society, distrust silence and solitude. Being succinct and brief is not a virtue in politics in this day and age; hence my concern for Senator McCain. I guess we won’t know the answer till the numbers come in on election night.
Tomorrow’s post, I will focus on the substantive issues raised in the Civil Forum.