I just finished watching the last of four segments of an interview recorded on the last day of the Republican Convention. At first I thought this was a blunder by Obama, and after the first segment, I felt I was right.
O'Reilly was abrupt, and his demeanor was as much to show his dominance over a Presidential nominee than to explore his interviewee. I thought three more days of this would not be good.
Coincidentally this last segment coincided with the "Lipstick on a Pig" comment by Obama, something that has been touted as a direct attack on Sarah Palin by the McCain group, and retorted as a distortion by Obama. There have been a number of these claims of nefarious "dog whistles" by both sides in this campaign. Most notoriously was the "Celebrity" ad that many here maintained were racist assaults.
So, how did Bill O'Reilly respond to his party's attack on Obama's purported misogyny. He not only said it was unsupported by the evidence, but called the accusation unfair, and warned that it could come back to harm McCain. Interesting!
Although the interview took place over one half hour period, its being spread over a period of six days gives an illusion of a developing .....friendship, is the only word that comes to mind. It reminded me of the kind of conversations I have with my conservative tennis friends, the few that have the ability to think about the issues.
We disagree, but we welcome each others knowledge, perspective and conclusions. It has the quality of the tennis games we play, where the competition is the essence of the enjoyment, and the better the players, the more fun it is.
Obama went toe to toe with O'Reilly. When he saw a mis-perception he pointed it out and O'Reilly listened. "No, you are wrong when you say I oppose nuclear power." "No, it's not true that I will raise taxes." and, "I have acknowledged that the surge has lessened violence."
Let me confess something here. I am not one of the greatest fans of Obama on this site. No one can possibly know whether he will be a transformational historical figure, but he sure is a damn effective politician. And I disagree with a whole batch of his policies, and his tactics.
However, watching how he interacted with O'Reilly impressed me greatly. Of course he had his facts down cold, but any policy wonk can do that. What he was able to do was interact with someone who had a different political ideology with firmness that never even approached hostility. His skills were enough to interface with the man, so that he never really felt he had to demonstrate his toughness. It was self evident.
At the end there was a little impromptu tease that O'Reilly initiated, asking, "on a game of one on one basketball, what will you spot me?" Barack, lawyer that he is, made sure the terms were clear asking, "How many points?" When they agreed they would play to eleven, Obama thought for a second and seriously said, "I'll spot you ten."
It was a mock put down that was as skillful as any basketball play or negotiation with a world leader. They connected "man to man, which is close to "boy to boy." I had a strong sense that both of them had enjoyed the interaction, the bantering; and had gained some mutual respect.
I don't know whether there were any in The Factor audience whose votes were changed, but I'd be surprised if there weren't quite a few. For me, it was a demonstration of the type of personal skills that got him elected to the Presidency of the Harvard Law Review. It's a rare combination of personality and intellect, which is the ultimate quality needed in a President of the United States.
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Addendum: djrez wrote a comprehensive diary describing in detail all four segments after this was posted. It's here and worth reading.
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9/10/2008 Daiilykos Rec diary
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