The entire transcript of the Obama-Warren and McCain-Warren interactions is now available.
Congressman Chip Pickering, with whom I spoke with after the Forum, summed it up well: McCain stood head-and-shoulders above Obama in three respects: substance, experience, and depth of character.
Obama noted that his opposition to the war in Iraq was not politically expedient. But I’m not sure that jives with the fact that he opposed the war in 2002, when he represented a (liberal) district on the south side of Chicago, and was preparing to run for the U.S. Senate, in which he’d compete for votes in a Democratic primary in a blue state (Illinois)? I also thought Obama’s statement on when a fetus has rights was extremely weak. As President, would making decisions on abortion legislation be “above his pay grade”? I was impressed that Warren asked that question, and was equally impressed with Warren’s response (notice that McCain did not get the follow-up question, “Have you ever voted to limit or reduce abortions?”)
Gary Bauer referred me to the August 13 Pew survey which found that McCain has made substantial gains among evangelicals since June. Other McCain surrogates told me they think McCain is gaining among both “older” and “newer” evangelicals (the latter consisting of those who care deeply about issues like poverty, human trafficking and the environment, but who are still strongly pro-life). Also, the consensus seemed to be that McCain would chose a pro-life running mate.
Several folks are commenting on the irony of Obama taking issue with Clarence Thomas’ qualifications for being in the U.S. Supreme Court given Obama’s greater inexperience (and his pursuit of the highest office).
At the post-forum reception for members of the media there were about ten McCain staffers for every one Obama representative. The one Obama representative I met was uninterested in discussing the abortion issue. I enjoyed briefly meeting Byran York (a fantastic blogger at The Corner) and Senator Sam Brownback.