Katie Couric, Hero of the Revolution

I'm looking forward to not blogging any more about Sarah Palin, but her explanation given the other day to Matt Lauer about why she couldn't tell Katie Couric what newspapers Palin reads -

you know, questions about, well, you know, 'What do you read up there in Alaska?' To me that was a little bit annoying. Because I'm like, what do you mean, what do I read in Alaska? I read the same things that you guys read in New York. And there in LA and in Washington state.

- reminded me about the pivotal, crucial role Katie Couric played in this year's momentous election.

What was the single most decisive moment in the election, the instant in which the McCain-Palin ticket was irrevocably finished?

Obviously, the financial crisis was the major factor, and McCain seriously hurt his chances by suspending his campaign, urging a postponement of the first debate, and rushing over to Washington, DC to accomplish nothing. That might well have been the second worst moment of the McCain-Palin campaign.

But I don't think it was the worst, because, as the weeks proceeded, McCain's bizarre initial reactions to the financial crisis got diluted by other events.

Not so Katie Couric's CBS interview of Sarah Palin, broadcast on September 30. To this day, I can't understand why Sarah Palin was unable to tell Couric what newspapers she read, or to name a Supreme Court decision she disagreed with other than Roe v. Wade. Was Palin advised not to answer questions like this? Hard to believe - as it is hard to believe that she didn't answer because she could not cite a paper or a US Supreme Court decision.

I think that moment, that lack of answer, became indelibly recorded in the opinions many Americans from then on had of Sarah Palin.

Katie Couric and CBS have received a lot of criticism in the past few years. But there was something about Couric's interview style, her soft spoken way of putting her questions, that put Palin at ease and led to this result.

When the histories of this election are written, they will say that the Tiffany Network shone bright again, and the CBS Evening News anchor came through again for America, in that interview. By doing what media interviews are supposed to do - help Americans get to better know their candidates. And, fifteen days later, Bob Schieffer of CBS came through with the best moderation of any of the debates this year.

William Paley would have been proud.

Final Presidential Debate: Best of the Three, for Obama, Schieffer, But Not So Much McCain

The last Presidential debate of this election, which I just saw on CSPAN, televised from Hofstra University, where I once taught a few courses, was the best so far. Best for Barack Obama, best for the moderator, but mixed for John McCain.

Obama looked the most Presidential he's been so far. He looked into the camera and clearly explained his health policy, tax policy, and the distortions of McCain and the Republicans about everything ranging from Bill Ayers to Obama's positions on health care, taxes, and the rest.

Bob Schieffer was an excellent moderator - asking tough and important questions about all the domestic issues, including the choice of Vice Presidential candidates. Schieffer also asked some good follow-ups, and rarely interrupted or got in the way of Obama and McCain's answers.

McCain had a few good moments, as he had in the earlier debates. His best line was when he said to Obama that if he wanted to run against George Bush, Obama should have done that four years ago.

But Obama came back with a crisp response about McCain supporting Bush's policies. And, as in the first two debates, McCain often came across as twitchy and uncomfortable, and occasionally close to incomprehensible. He did manage more smiles than in the first debate, and he looked at Obama, but he still looked less than Presidential in his chair.

And McCain did himself no good by any standard on abortion, first saying he would not apply any "litmus" test to his Supreme Court appointments (this will win him no thanks from his right-to-life base) but later brushing aside, incredibly, a woman's health as a valid reason to have an abortion.

In contrast, Barack Obama appeared more reasonable, compassionate, and, frankly, intelligent, on this and every other issue. In his concluding remarks, Obama never looked more like a President.

I expect we'll be treated to many more Presidential addresses from Barack Obama in the years ahead.