Obama and Clinton Debate in Texas - Try THIS Spin

As I watched the debate between Obama and Clinton in Austin, Texas, I thought of tennis.

I never progressed very far in tennis, because I never mastered the
skill of hitting the ball with over spin. Try as a I might, I would hit
balls flush and invariably they would overshoot the baseline of my
opponent and I would lose.

The combination of my hitting the ball flush and my opponent hitting it
with over spin where it would deftly land in my court, pick up speed
made it nearly impossible for me to return or win.

As I listened to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in their recent
debate, it became clear to me how the mildly evangelical inflection of
Obama's voice kept hitting deftly the right chords in the audience and
with me with over spin, which triggered well aimed and positioned
traction within much of the audience.

On the other hand, Clinton kept hitting the words flush which both
missed their mark and certainly missed having the traction that she was
hoping for.

Speaking with overspin sounds more authoritative; speaking words flush sounds more authoritarian.

The main traction she appeared to gain was in her closing comments
about the greatest tests she has had to face, where she quickly
switched the focus from hinting at her well known challenges to those
of soldiers returning from war.

However, the traction that this caused was not from overspin. It was
caused by the audience wondering how she would handle/dodge such a
question, when the challenges she faced as"first lady" were very
embarrassing and very public. As all of us "rubber necked" and were
poised to watch her crash and burn when trying to dodgy that shameful
episode in her life, she deftly changed the focus to American soldiers
and their pain and suffering, being the more important tests to be
focused on.

By catching us with our base, shame-on-us, "voyeuristic" pants down and
switching to the compassion we should all be feeling toward our hurt
and wounded warriors, Clinton deftly won that set.

Whether it was enough to win the match and tournament, remains to be seen.

If this spin appeals to you, check out archived samples of my syndicated column, "Solve Anything with Dr. Mark."

Visit me at: www.markgoulston.com.