So who’s the better candidate, Obama or McCain?

So what happens when two famous political analysts (one who’s conservative, the other a liberal) come together to talk about the presidential campaign in front of an audience filled with Tar Heels? You get some laughs, some claps and maybe a boo or two.

David Brooks (conservative columnist for the NYT) and E.J. Dionne Jr. (liberal columnist for the Washington Post) met on stage at UNC’s Memorial Hall Tuesday night to discuss the presidential campaign. For a political news junkie like myself, it was 90 minutes of heaven.

Brooks opened with a surefire technique to endear himself to a Tar Heel audience: Insult Duke. “You guys are just like Dookies, only less stuck up,” he said, garnering applause and cheers from the nearly-filled auditorium.

It’s easy to get hung up in the media’s horserace coverage of political campaigns. So it’s refreshing to hear two intelligent analysts with mostly diverging opinions discuss aspects of the McCain/Obama race that can’t be covered in a sound bite.

Interesting observations (I took notes so all quotes are within a word or two of accuracy):

On McCain picking Sarah Palin:

*Brooks (the conservative): At the end of four years Sen. Joe Biden will still be the right pick for Obama. But with regards to McCain choosing Palin: “To be honest, I don’t know. I frankly don’t know if she’s going to be good or not. I’ve never met her I don’t know the character of the woman.”

*Dionne (the liberal): “Sarah Palin is clearly the most qualified person ever chosen for vice president,” he said, resulting in laughter from the audience and then adding “your laughter is my point.” He takes issue with: the lack of media interviews the campaign has granted so far and that McCain only met her (once or twice) before choosing her. He also is concerned about her lack of foreign policy experience. He said liberals will make a big mistake, however, if they “make a culture war” out of her selection by touting her as a small town American who shoots guns.

On the role of the Internet and technology in the campaign:

Brooks complained that technology (namely the ability to record video with small cameras and the use of blogs) actually make campaigns less transparent. He recalled the days when journalists used to rub elbows with candidates and chat informally on the campaign buses.

But with every move being recorded these days he added: “The candidate can not afford to unwind and open up … It has had this perverse effect of making campaigns less transparent.”

He added that the Obama campaign is particularly bad about this.

Strengths of McCain/Obama:

Brooks said McCain’s strength is that he has “incredible moral intuition” while Obama has incredible perception. He offered this anecdote, which happened before Obama announced his candidacy for president:

Brooks (the conservative) wrote a column criticizing the Republicans for spending too much. To make himself feel better for critiquing the party he said he threw in a couple sentences that said Democrats were guilty of overspending too. The next day, Obama sent Brooks an e-mail saying something to the effect of: “That’s fine if you want to criticize the Democrats, but you know you just added those two sentences to make yourself feel better.” Talk about perceptive, Brooks said.

Anyway, back to connecting the Triangle. One of the perks of living in communities rich with univerisities is the opportunity to see distinguished speakers for free. Although such lectures are not always well-advertised off campus. So you may have to do a little homework.

Duke University recently launched this comprehensive calendar. Does anyone know of any simialr resources for the area’s other universities?