Clinton: the Candidate with the Greatest Stage Presence on Oct. 9

One of the most interesting things about the second presidential debate was evaluating not what the candidates said, but their presence on the stage.

The two candidates were each given a chair on opposite sides of the stage, Hilary Clinton on the viewer’s right and Donald Trump on the viewer’s left. Clinton utilized the chair, and Trump did not. The chair was too tall for Clinton to sit in. When Clinton was responding to a question, she did not use the chair; however, during her opponent’s 2-minute response periods, she would lean back on the chair, indicating that she is a respectful listener. When Trump responded to a question, like Clinton, he would not use the chair, but when Clinton was responding, he did not make use of the chair: he would pace behind it.

When the candidates were responding to their questions without making use of the chair, it was intriguing to look at the presence that the candidates had on the stage. Clinton would face the person who asked the question, and then she would make her way from stage right to stage left. By using the whole entire stage, Hilary was inviting the entire audience to listen to her. She also did not just utilize camera angles to bring focus to herself, but also to Trump in the background by purposely walking to Trump’s side of the stage. This tactic allowed Hillary to expose the lack of respect Trump had for her while she was speaking. Trump was always in the background pacing or standing behind the chair with his head down. When it was Trump’s turn to respond, he stayed to the left, and he opened up half of his body to the moderators and the other half to Clinton. He did not address the people who asked him questions. His lack of presence on the stage shows disrespect, not for Clinton or the moderators, but for the audience.

Overall, the verdict is that Clinton won the debate by showing respect for her audience and opponent.

News Analysis: CNN After Show

After the debate, CNN journalist Jake Tapper and eight other journalists set up stage on one of the lawns at the University of Washington in St. Louis. On the stage, there was a curved desk with four journalists on each side of Tapper, and in the background there were many people shouting and holding up posters.

The actual debate resembled more of a spectacle than a debate with the insults and threats. Leading up to this debate, and going into the final debate, the campaigns were and are not being taken seriously because they have been and probably will be spectacles, just like a football game. Ironically, the CNN after show crew set up a stage that looked quite similar to Lee Corso’s College Game Day (a college football pre game show).

At the end of College Game Day, Corso always puts on one of his legendary hats—a tradition on the show when Corso puts on a weird hat with the college mascot of the team that he predicts will win. As the subtitles on the bottom of the screen indicated that the results of the debate polls would be ready momentarily, I couldn’t help but wonder if Tapper would put on a Trump or Clinton hat.

In the end, though, Tapper should have put on a Clinton hat because she was the winner of the second presidential spectacle.