2 talking heads debating the debate

I've been a fan of Bloggingheads for a coupla years now, after I read Robert Wright's book Nonzero (interesting but idiosyncratic evolutionary psychology tract). In the beginning it was a ramshackle affair with a coupla posts per week. By now they've thickened the number of regular commentators to the point where now I skip most of the discussions, whereas I used to devour every installment.

This week Glenn Loury and John McWhorter discuss the first presidential debate and continue their running fascination with Obama. Though both are generally conservative thinkers, they both like Obama largely for the transformative possibilities of his potential presidency. This is not their first conversation and they've mentioned numerous times their combination of pride and distress at the first major black candidate. The distress is the notion that Obama is perceived as merely flesh but not blood. That the left will use him, the right will distort him and the man will be left behind searching for himself. They both genuinely like Obama (and McCain for that matter) as a man, as a thinker, and fear that if he is merely a 'black man' then his historical impact won't truly reach its culmination. I don't disagree but I would suggest that 4 (or 8) years in Washington is a long, long time and to sit here and ponder what will become of the next president is more fruitless than determining who will win the Rose Bowl 3 months from now. The slings and arrows are waiting, I guarantee, but of their nature we know not.

I was also struck by their observation that McCain and Obama both refused to look at each other throughout the debate. They speculate as to why: McWhorter suggests that Obama will come off as a browbeating intellectual if he unleashes himself on this tongue-tied old man and McCain will be perceived as racist if his facial expression isn't at all times properly modulated. Loury suggests instead it is the natural contempt these men feel for each other and I'd never really thought about it before but I sense that contempt. By now presidential candidates are career politicians who respect each other enough to be civil within the proper spheres. But these two probably are so far apart philosophically that they really do sense the other is a grand mistake waiting to happen. Loury thinks McCain can only see Obama (as I do) as an upstart much too early into the fray--and wouldn't Obama see McCain (as I do) as a tired old white man? I would also suggest that they are senators and senators treat each other with such a startlingly collegial air--the rules of the Senate are exceedingly polite--that to see each other as true combatants is probably a state they're not accustomed to.

Incidentally I think the grand transformation of an Obama presidency wouldn't come from Obama himself, who would be treated just like any other political figure soon enough. He'd get the honeymoon period of any president, say 6-8 months, and then the long knives will come out for him just like the other 42 white dudes that got there before him. The real transformation would be seeing those two little girls growing up in the White House. After 4 years they'd be near college age, another 4 they'd be getting on with their lives. America will be enchanted by them. The racial undertones will be softened not by political bickering--where the undertones get exaggerated--but by the family that awaits the man back home.

Good conversation.

Glen Loury & John McWhorter at Bloggingheads.TV