Obama Often Struggled In Debate Prep, Had To Cancel Sessions

[karynnj]

8. Kerry won his own debates easily - he is an alpha debater - even in Yale years he was the

star of the undefeated Yale debate team.

Clinton was a good debater, though somewhat inconsistent. The one constant is that he won them partically on his exuberant personality - something Obama does not share. I assume that Clinton will give him whatever tips he can.

It is clear from the article that the problem was Obama - more than it was Kerry or his team. The comment that he was aggressive the night before - and passive the night before that suggests that no one - not even Bill Clinton could have made a difference.

It is clear that Obama dislikes both debating and Romney and that he cancelled many debate sessions. This makes sense when there are crises, but there was also a lot of time spent on fund raising, tv, and campaigning. Clearly, Obama thought he could coast and pass "the exam". I seriously doubt that anyone on his team - and even less Senator Kerry - could have really pushed him on spending more time on this.

Not to mention, had Obama excelled in the debates, you would not be here praising Senator Kerry. The fact is that there is no debate that has ever been won by the coach - and here the coachs were really Axelrod, Pouffle and others. From what is said Kerry did play various possible Romneys and no one there is saying he was not good.