[danb]

If you're like me, you probably had other things to do on a Saturday night than watch McCain and tMessiah have a conversation with Rev. Rick Warren. I know I did.

As a service to my friends (and any open-minded foes), I am copying some impressions from pundits and readers at NRO. I do that because upon reading you may wish you saw the event, and CNN is rebroadcasting it tonight.

I'm Not John McCain's Biggest Fan, but put him up against Barack Obama and there really is no contest. He just has a seriousness and confidence Obama doesn't; in large part, because Obama simply doesn't have the experience.

I certainly do disagree with John McCain on some big issues, but tonight he was outstanding in ways Barack Obama is not and cannot be. McCain was substantive, clear, concise, and relaxed. Obama seemed a bit nervous, some of his answers seemed contrived, and most of all it was clear that he is simply out of McCain's league when it comes to substance and experience. Score it a big McCain night. He should hope many, many voters were watching - more than the usual CNN Saturday night crowd.

Without a doubt, the lowest moment of the night was Obama's smear of Clarence Thomas. He, like Harry Reid, can't simply disagree with Thomas; he has to try to degrade him. On Obama's best day he can't hold a candle to Thomas's intelligence. Obama can barely make it through a press conference and ducks town hall debates with McCain because of his inability to speak in complete sentences when pressed to show his much noted but usually absent brilliance.

I Have No Idea How Many People Were Watching tonight, but for the first time, watching tonight, I feel like McCain can win this thing. There's just a huge gravitas gap between these candidates.
I don't always agree with John McCain's judgment, but I have some sense it's rooted in something good and American.

I just got in and am catching up on the Saddleback forum on DVR, and my first thought is that must have been some stressful vacation for Obama, because he appears to have returned with lots of gray hair.

I have never liked John McCain. I have followed him closely, which is why I've not liked him.

He has hit a grand slam tonight.

He's making Barry look like the vague, socialist, intellectual that he is, in fact.

McCain is sounding like an American.

He LOVES our country.

Barry wants to improve it.

Obama just said Clarence Thomas didn’t have enough experience to serve of the court. Kinda ironic, huh?

"I have no doubt that most people watching the Saddleback forum were shocked to hear there have been 40 million abortions since Roe vs. Wade. Even though many Americans are "enlightened" on the issue of abortion, it is an ugly statistic and Obama's attempt to avoid a meaningful response cost him the election."

Saddleback: The Contrast
A fascinating night that gave us a peek at the fundamental contrast between these candidates. They both were very good, but in entirely different ways. Obama was relaxed, reflective, polished, and conversational—truer to the spirit of the event. McCain was energetic and forceful, but relied more on his favorite lines—treating it more like one of his townhall meetings (he had the advantage of an overwhelmingly friendly crowd). Obama was every bit the impressive, likable young man. McCain was the elder statesman telling his best stories. Obama was fluid and comfortable talking about his faith. McCain said the bare minimum about it.

But the starkest contrast came as soon as McCain started his half of the forum. Asked the three people he would listen to as president, McCain said right off the bat Gen. Petraeus (Obama had led with his wife and grandmother). It was an immediate signal that this is a man who is concerned first and foremost with matters of war and peace—just as you expect from someone who wants to be president of the United States. Asked when he had bucked his party at risk to his self-interest, McCain rolled off his greatest hits, and went all the back to differing with Reagan on Lebanon (a reminder of how long he has been immersed in national-security issues). It made Obama's answer about promoting an ethics law with McCain seem incredibly weak in comparison. Then, McCain's answer about the toughest decision he had ever made—refusing early release in Vietnam—was riveting and moving.

In the first fifteen minutes, McCain had established a moral seriousness stemming from his conduct in Vietnam as a POW and his long-time as a national leader that Obama can't match. Throughout the rest of the night, he brought up Iraq, al Qaeda, and the Georgia crisis, when Obama was more inward-looking. McCain sounded like a potential commander-in-chief, Obama more like a potential friend. This is not to say, again, that Obama was not impressive. But the skills he showed tonight—the thoughtfulness and verbal dexterity—were those of a very talented memoirist, which, of course, he is.

As for the social issues, tonight should throw a damper on the notion that Obama is going to make major inroads among evangelicals voters. Why would they vote for his social liberalism couched in exquisite equivocations, when they can vote for someone who agrees with them on most everything like John McCain?

"What a great moment in the history of race relations that a black presidential candidate can say that he would not have nominated Clarence Thomas - because he wasn't qualified enough!"
Ironic. Not only because Obama's the one not qualified, but because Barack Obama would keep us wedded to the same backward thinking that wants minorities and women to be pandered to instead of respected.

Sigh, more breathless pro-Obama hackery from Sullivan. He salutes what has essentially become the conventional wisdom among liberals — black and white — about Clarence Thomas to celebrate the newness and audacity of Barack Obama. Next up: Barack Obama will call for more funding for public education and Andrew will hail it as "revolutionary."

I think Obama did very well (and he doesn't need to win a majority of this audience, he merely needs to keep McCain's support below typical trends). But this was McCain's best performance in memory. For the first time I can think of in '08, at least, he comes across as the kind of guy a lot of conservatives can want to vote for, rather than merely settle for.

Cancel the convention, if you ask me. Just keep replaying tonight and McCain wins. He was serious, self-confident, and compassionate. He presented himself as a man who can inspire service.
During the one moment last summer I flirted with the idea of McCain for president, I wrote: "We’re in a war where we’re occasionally asked to shop to help the economy; we’re not hearing a real call to arms. We need one."

John McCain can do that and it's an important thing. It was one of the many advantages he displayed tonight. If John McCain keeps this up, he can win.

McCain As Good As Obama Was Bad
I don't want to get too overheated about what occurred tonight, but I do think McCain had a clear and decisive victory over Obama. It all comes down to something that Phil Bredesen, the Democratic governor of Tennessee recently said about Obama: “Instead of giving big speeches at big stadiums, he needs to give straight-up 10-word answers to people at Wal-Mart about how he would improve their lives.”
By that standard, McCain did extremely well and Obama did very poorly. McCain's answers were direct, confident and, most importantly, serious. When asked about what leaders he would consult as president, he first suggested Gen. Petraeus, architect of the surge, who he correctly praised as one of America's all-time great military leaders. By way of contrast, Obama suggested he would seek out the advice of a typical white person, er, his grandmother and his wife Michelle, who's still trying to decide whether she's proud of her country.

When asked "At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?," McCain answered "At the moment of conception." Obama's answer here was flaming-dirigible bad:

Whether you are looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity is, you know, above my pay grade.

That spectacularly inept metaphor is going to haunt Obama throughout the rest of the campaign. News flash: There's not a job on the planet above the pay grade of the President of the United States. If you can't solve every problem and are humble about it, that's fine — but you can't get away with being unsure about the most defining moral issue in politics. Of course, he didn't put down the shovel:
But let me speak more generally about the issue of abortion. Because this is something, obviously, the country wrestles with. One thing that I’m absolutely convinced of is that there is a moral and ethical element to this issue. And So I think that anybody who tries to deny the moral difficulties and gravity of the abortion issue is not paying attention.

So after completely hedging on the question and declining to give a specific answer — he wants to speak "more generally" about the issue? And, lo and behold, speak more generally he does: "I’m absolutely convinced of is that there is a moral and ethical element to this issue." In related news, Obama is also "absolutely convinced" that the sky is blue, water is wet and puppies are adorable. None of this, however, tells me a thing about his judgment and moral worldview.

But what bowls me over about how craptacular his answer here is; did no one on his campaign ever anticipate that he would have to talk about abortion, such that he could come up with a better answer than this? Surely they would have had to expect it at this forum in particular.

His answer here was in many ways reminiscent of last April, where he imploded in his last debate with Hillary. He was asked to respond to his then-recent clinging to God n' guns remark. He totally botched the answer and, like this evening, it seemed as if he was totally unprepared for the question that would most obviously be asked.

But I also think that it's worth noting that Obama wasn't just bad, but that McCain was very good. He was the perfect balance of likable and serious. He also came across as informed, offered far more policy specifics than Obama, and highlighted his faith as was appropriate to the setting and almost everything he said bolstered his conservative credentials. (His comments on taxes and what it means to be "rich" were especially good in that regard.) I'd wager that for a lot of conservatives watching, McCain went from the enemy of my enemy to someone they felt good about voting for. He may yet foul that up, but I suspect he may be riding high for a while after tonight.