You hardly measure an event such as the second presidential debate last night as won or lost. It is more like a war of attrition as ground is lost and taken in an interminable back and forth.
But last night Donald Trump needed to regain some ground and he failed. At the same time Hillary Clinton needed to hold her ground and she did.
If Secretary Clinton ever needed to show that she was fully capable of being President of the Unites States, it was last night. The final question set her up for it. The questioner challenged both candidates to say something nice about the other candidate. Trump was for once tongue-tied when asked to respond first. So Clinton, the politician, stepped forward and complimented Trump on his family. She was gracious and closed well.
Trump, on the other hand, had to question Clinton’s sincerity. He had a conversation with himself and finally decided that his opponent was being genuine. What he said positive about Clinton, this commentator forgot to write down. It escapes us.
But the close of the event was revealing in itself. The moderators, the questioners, the candidates and the candidate’s families were on stage and milling around thanking people. The candidates finally shook hands—something they did not do at the beginning.
What finally told the story of the evening was a long camera shot showing the entire stage and the people milling around and talking to each other. This shot told you who was the winner and who the loser.
The Trump family at first gathered protectively around their man. After a while, a few people broke through to get selfies with Donald Trump.
In the meantime, you could see the political team of Bill and Hillary Clinton working the stage like a fund-raising cocktail party. Hillary was glad-handing the people on stage right and Bill was working stage left. These two professional politicians were in their element. They walked away with the most votes of that supposedly undecided audience.
The only thing for Trump to do is to get his doctor to recommend a good ear, nose and throat specialist to check out that sniffing in his speech. It was far more obvious last night than it was at the first debate. It could be as simple as post-nasal drip but he needs to check it out. It is becoming very distracting for people with whom he wants to communicate.
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Copyright 2016 © Peter Lowry
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