This is a terrific example of how preconceived ideas, beliefs and expectations color our perceptions. In this type of situation, it wasn't at all surprising that both candidates did a good job of following the expected tactic of responding to any question by steering discussion to their own talking points.
I thought Newsom did a pretty good job of holding his own under the circumstances, which was essentially two-against-one, with Hannity clearly showing his biases, not only with the questions asked (largely friendly set-ups to GOP talking points), but with how the time was managed. Newsom was almost never allowed to finish a statement without being interrupted or cut short by either DeSantis or Hannity.
As more than one commentator has observed, however, both debaters were speaking to their own constituencies, so rather than provide direct responses to specific questions, they both addressed posed questions with previously prepared lines reflecting their own carefully selected statistics and talking points. So they were essentially talking past each other, which seems to be SOP for all political dialogue these days.
As for Newsom's supposed Presidential aspirations, I'm not convinced he has any. I've read that he has dyslexia and has to spend a great deal of time memorizing speeches, since he has difficulties reading from teleprompters. He works very hard to make up for his challenges, but because of that, he's loath to put himself into the position where his dyslexia would make it difficult to keep up with the demands a Presidency would entail. After his current term as Governor, he's termed out, so maybe he's hoping to take on a national position for the Democratic party.
One way or the other, we'll eventually find out. |
