Agree with your observations. I'm puzzled at the president's apparent lack of preparation. He should have absolutely nailed Kerry in this debate, but seemed very hesitant.
dont forget the closer..
this is an opener
I think he had too much of the wrong kind of preparation. I think they crammed his head full of talking points.
I think the panic is premature and here is why I think this. I have a daughter who was taking notes for her gov't class. Her exact words when trying to take notes on one of Kerry's responses was "Its hard to take notes on what he says." In a world of spin and nuance, that was the single most brilliant political observation I have heard.
I almost expected Kerry to say "I'm going to put the bunker busters in a lock box."
The Prez was the Prez, and he was fine.
If Bush nailed Kerry, he would demonstrate that he is a cowboy. By being polite, reflective and hesistant he comes accross as someone who comes to his conclusions thoughtfully. On the other hand Kerry comes accross as boastfull, arrogant etc. all the negative attributes Bush is supposed to have.
I'm even beginning to wonder that the long pause before answering was done purposefully.
Kerry came off as a slick know-it-all with no solutions or plans.
Bush came off as a sincere guy who isn't much of a debater, but has the experience to back up what he says.
I don't think Bush came across very well. However, Kerry made 3 major blunders that I caught. The first was that he said that he would not have gone into Iraq knowing what we now know, a direct contradiction to a recent question that specifically asked this. The second was that we needed to pass "a global test". And the third was that he was going to shut down the bunker-busting nuke program. And, of course he lied throughout. It is ashamed that Bush did not mention that it was the failed treaty orchestrated by Democrats with North Korea that accounted for the current situation. And that North Korea was trying to blackmail the US by insisting on bilateral talks with the US.