Where was the Bush glow?

Something interesting happened Thursday night. Something unexpected. President Bush complimented his daughters, the Kerry daughters and made a stupid joke about Yale University. John Kerry laughed. Yet, Kerry came across as if he actually thought the joke was funny. As if he had a real heart. That was unexpected. The revelation of John Kerry’s heart was among the interesting events that unraveled during the first presidential debate of this election cycle.

My take is this: John Kerry won. It wasn’t a blowout, but Kerry took home the prize. How that will translate into poll numbers, it’s hard to tell, but it’s easy to see that Kerry surpassed expectations. He certainly surpassed my expectations, with those being based upon his speaking performances in the past. In contrast to Thursday’s performance, along the campaign trail of these past few months, Kerry’s speaking skills have proved to be a bore, filled with nonsensical rhetoric and ramblings. During the debate, he got down to real specifics and real issues. This allowed him to go head to head with President Bush.

The president, on the other hand, avoided the specifics and talked more about vision, which would have worked any other time. Thursday night, however, he didn’t properly communicate his usually optimistic vision about America. He came across as disconnected, frustrated and maybe even a bit intimidated. His appearance is being blamed on his visiting hurricane disaster areas and an anthrax scare earlier in the day. Evidently, the day’s previous events proved to disrupt his presence on stage.

Yet, if he desires to win these events, it’s required that President Bush do what always captures his audience: He must convey his vision. If anything about President Bush and President Ronald Reagan is the same, it’s their optimistic ideas about America. President Bush wins America’s heart with his future of hope. He talks about white picket fences, pecan pie, summer baseball and small-town America, capturing that heart of America that we all love to love. Yet, this was missing from Thursday’s debate. His glow was gone. If anything, he had a negative glow.

The second mistake that I perceived: The president didn’t talk about specifics. If you’re having trouble conveying a broad, optimistic vision, then you have to talk about specifics issues, numbers and legislation. That way, everyone thinks you have it all together. President Bush avoided specifics and fumbled in his thoughts. These combined to fall short of Kerry’s bar.

John Kerry took command from the beginning, with little fumbling and less anger. Yes, he is still characterized as being more anti-Bush than pro-Kerry, but his presence was more at peace. He took shots at President Bush, but framed them in a way that wasn’t redundant. He obviously looked prepared and spoke with command that seems reminiscent of his Vietnam-era speeches. He made a few mistakes – most notably, talking about a foreign policy that passes the “global test” – but President Bush didn’t effectively capitalize on that comment.

So, this becomes the contrast: John Kerry spitting out facts everywhere, which created a presidential feel about him. President Bush attempted to speak from the heart, but seemed to be too uncomfortable to connect with the viewers.

John Kerry won the debate on Thursday. However, it will be interesting to see who the perceived winner is when next week rolls around, as all of Kerry’s statements will be sifted through and checked. He got into a lot of specifics and a lot of “facts” that may prove to be false. I’m confident President Bush will score higher than Sen. Kerry in this test, but who knows? Perception is everything.