The next to last question of the debate tonight was the "Zen" question, to the effect of "What don't you know, and what will you do to learn it". I thought this was a very good opportunity for Obama to hit this out of the park, but Obama bunted it.
[Updated x2]
The next to last question of the debate tonight was the "Zen" question, to the effect of "What don't you know, and what will you do to learn it". I thought this was a very good opportunity for Obama to hit this out of the park, but Obama bunted it.
No man can do it all nor should he try, even one as sharp as Obama. But Obama has done an excellent job of putting together a great team of operators and advisors, and that is how any president needs to deal with the unexpected, and anticipate problems before they grow out of control.
Obama's teams of advisors, for economics, science, foreign policy, &c are, as best I can tell, first class and highly diverse. Ultimately, these are any president's first line of defense against the unexpected but anticipatable, and will provide the guidance needed by the executive to learn what needs to be learned so that action -- rather than reaction -- can be taken.
I don't think Obama needed to point it out (nor should he have), but McCain's advisors are nowhere near the quality of Obama's, being largely lobbyists and ideologues.
Update:
I think the shout out to Michelle was a perfect semi-serious answer.
But the serious answer needed to follow, and I think that could have been much better, especially since he didn't really answer the question. A better follow through would have been to point out those who he's assembled into his campaign teams, giving them a shout out, and talking about his administration and those he will count on as president.
It's very important who a president's advisors are, and how he manages and deals with them (especially listening...). So far as I'm familiar, his advisors on economic issues, foreign policy, and science and technology are first-rate. (McCain's are mostly lobbyists, retread neo-cons, defense industry analysts, and CEOs of various stripes.)
Further, as smart as he is, as president, he will constantly be dealing with issues with which he is unfamiliar. He needs to have a deep bench of knowledgeable folks, whose judgment can be trusted, who can provide background and information for him.
Putting together a large organization that deals with thousands or tens of thousands of issues of all shapes and sizes -- as Obama has done with his campaign -- is in many ways like running the gov't. He has done a superb job of this, culminating in the poll results we now see. I trust he will somehow manage to scale this to running the gov't, with its much larger scale and entrenched interests.
But giving a shout out to his staff, acknowledging that his presidency would be considerably more than just him (more 'we' less 'I' is always good), and indirectly reminding folks who McCain's campaign staff are would have been a better answer.
Update 2
The Huffington Post has an article up on the Obama and McCain transition teams. As might be expected from my thoughts above, the Obama campaign's transition teams are staffed and busy. The McCain teams... not so much.