NY Times Plays Debate Expectations Game

Don't expect too much from Barack Obama at this Friday's presidential debate because his debating skills are not nearly as good as those of John McCain. That is the message from the New York Times to prepare viewers for the debate. Therefore if Obama fails to quite match up to McCain, that really should be counted as a victory for Obama...at least according to this manufactured debate expectations game. The truth is that  McCain is not really a skilled debater but that didn't keep the Times from touting his supposed oratorical skills as you can see in the very title of this story: "A Scrappy Fighter, McCain Honed His Debating Style in and Out of Politics." To read this story, you would think that McCain is one of the great debaters of our time:

Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, heads into the first debate on Friday with a track record as a scrappy combatant and the instincts of a fighter pilot, prepared to take out his opponent and willing to take risks to do so.

He has used fairly consistent techniques during his roughly 30 debates on the national stage: he is an aggressive competitor who scolds his opponents, grins when he scores and is handy with the rhetorical shiv.

And since the first debate is on the theme of foreign policy the Times goes out of its way to show that is McCain's biggest strength:

A review of several of Mr. McCain’s debates shows that he is most comfortable and authentic when the subject is foreign policy. And in a stroke of good fortune, foreign policy is the topic for Friday, the first of three 90-minute debates with Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee. 

Simultaneous with boosting the debate expectations for McCain, the Times also downplayed Obama's debating skills as you can see in the very headline of this story: "Obama Carries Uneven Record as Debater to First Contest With McCain." So according to the Times it is an uneven playing field from the start which they emphasize right from the beginning of this article:

Senator Barack Obama has shown himself at times to be a great orator. His debating skills, however, have been uneven.

 Some of his chief strengths — his facility with words, his wry detachment, his reasoning skills, his youthful cool — have not always served him well and may pose significant vulnerabilities in the series of presidential debates that begins Friday, according to political analysts and a review of his earlier debate performances.

Mr. Obama has a tendency to overintellectualize and to lecture, befitting his training as a lawyer and law professor. He exudes disdain for the quips and sound bites that some deride as trivializing political debates but that have become a central part of scoring them. He tends to the earnest and humorless when audiences seem to crave passion and personality. He frequently rises above the mire of political combat when the battle calls for engagement.

So you see how the expectations game is being laid out? Don't expect much from Obama since McCain is a much better debater. Therefore even if Obama doesn't perform as well as McCain, he is still the winner of the debate since we didn't expect much from Obama to start with.  At least according to the rules of the expectations game promoted in advance by the New York Times.