the citizen-viewer

The post-debate media emphasis on McCain’s body language and demeanor shows that we are in postmodern age.

The focus of public analysis is on the forms, rather than the content, of messages. The analysts acknowledge that what they say has an arbitrary, rather than organic, connection to the facts of the case. That is, media interpretation admits that truth is fragmented and that the test of a good narrative is aesthetic (truthiness) rather than empirical (reality-based).

Starting from that premise, the theory that McCain showed too much paranoid rage last night is, I hate to admit it—really hate to admit it—unfair to the Republicans. We could just as easily be performing a psycho-verbal postmortem on Obama and conclude that he was too accommodating of McCain and showed subordination to the pack leader. That would also be b.s. but it’s being tossed out there by McCain’s spinners.

However, I love the McCain as rage-aholic argument for the very fact that it is unfair. It’s the chickens of Al Gore’s “sighs and lies” 2000 debate review coming home to roost for the GOP. Gore beat Bush in a reading of the transcripts but because the gasbags bought the Republican spin on Gore lying and looking peeved while Bush spoke (who wouldn’t be?) Bush got the bump from the debates. Now the Republicans are on the wrong end of the postmodern analysis that they thrived under for much of the Bush era when being “strong, but wrong,” as Bill Clinton put it, trumped the facts of the case.

If the media were to look at what they actually said, and consider what the policies mean, Obama would win. But the post-game analysis treats that as an afterthought.

McCain gets credit for simply stating his case, forget the fact that tinkering with earmarks while busting the budget with corporate giveaways and forming a League of Democratic Superheroes to supplant existing international alliances in dealing with Iran are just plain stupid ideas.

Of course, the danger for Obama is that the balance doctrine, whereby each side must get some praise as well as damnation, will likely come back to make his next performance a failure no matter what he says. The angry old man can quickly turn into the strong leader and the composed, informed newcomer can be spun as the naive weakling who substitutes book smarts for street knowledge.