Civil Forum

I watched Rick Warren's Civil Forum tonight.  I really liked the way he emphasized, at both the beginning and the end, the value of civil discourse and resisting the urge to demonize your political opponents.  That's a message that both sides need to hear if they are really interested in the best interest of our country.

I thought McCain did a good job saying what his supporters and potential supporters want to hear.  There were a couple of things that especially caught my attention in light of my post from yesterday on Marital (In)Fidelity.  The first was McCain's answer to the question about what was the greatest moral failure in his life.  I knew the true answer was the failure of his first marriage, but I wasn't sure at first if he was going to give that answer.  I was pleasantly surprised that he did.  The other was in answer to the question about adoption when he related the story of Cindy bringing home their adopted daughter from Bangladesh.  I thought that was a testament to the strength and fidelity of his second marriage…that they made adoption a part of it.  I didn't think he should have kept apologizing for telling anecdotes.  The combination of telling so many stories and drawing so much attention to the fact that he was doing it highlighted his old codger liability.  The commentators of Fox were emphasizing how McCain was often answering the questions before Warren even finished them.  I think the commentators were complimenting him, but that wasn't a good sign in my opinion…though his supporters probably liked it.

I thought Obama did an OK job though I doubt he made any significant gains and agreed with the Fox commentators that he didn't make a winning play on the abortion question.  Maybe it wasn't possible for him to do so given his positions on the issue and those of his party, but that was one of his main openings that this venue provided.  I also thought he should have mentioned Al Qaeda at least in passing in his “is there evil” answer, though I wish McCain would have also mentioned a few other examples than just Al Qaeda.