Clinton didn`t hurt himself, Bush didn`t help himself and Perot may have retrieved a bit of the respectability he lost by his abrupt campaign withdrawal in July.
That, it seemed, was the way most pundits scored the first joint press conference-er, debate-of the 1992 presidential campaign. There will be two more such encounters within the next week and, with a bit of luck and a change from Sunday`s stultifying format, they`ll be more compelling than the first. Indeed, they might even help some voters decide whom to cast ballots for on Nov. 3.
Had it not been for Ross Perot, the entire 90 minutes of the debate would have been a giant soporific. The billionaire bantamweight from Texas got off half a dozen zingers, but by the end of the affair even he had grown tiresome. He gave the evening`s only demonstration of conspicuous courage-defending his proposed 50-cent increase in the gasoline tax-but more often was vague and evasive, as in his non-answer to how he would reform the nation`s health-care system.
The two heavyweights, Gov. Bill Clinton and President George Bush, both acted as if they were protecting a lead. In Clinton`s case, that may have made sense, since he apparently has one; in Bush`s case, it made none at all.
The president was betrayed in part by the format, on which he had insisted. His opponents were able to use their set-piece speeches to attack him-he is, after all, the incumbent, the king of the hill-and he was unable to respond freely and immediately.
At least twice, for example, Bush mentioned his ”Agenda for American Renewal,” the thoughtful economic policy framework that he outlined in a Detroit speech last month. And despite his expressed wish to eventually elaborate on it for the benefit of the debate audience, the opportunity to do so never arose.
Clinton, who went into the debate with a substantial lead over Bush and Perot in the polls, needed only to avoid damaging himself to call the evening a success. He stood to earn bonus points if he could look and act
”presidential,” whatever that means nowadays.
He certainly achieved the first-committing no gaffes and taking no direct hits from his opponents. As for the second, Clinton sometimes looked less presidential than exceedingly earnest, like a schoolboy under pressure to recite his lessons perfectly.
Round 2 is Thursday. The decision of the judges is Nov. 3-and it is final.
