Joe and Paul

Something incredible happened on Thursday night in Kentucky: a debate with substance between the vice-presidential candidates of the U.S. election. At times, their messages were illustrated with phrases on PowerPoint. This seemed as fantastic as the landing of a flying saucer!

I will not dwell on who won the debate. The research is divided, resulting in a technical tie between Ryan, whose victory was announced on CNN, and Biden, winner among the undecided block according to CBS. Such results are nothing to write home about, nor anything to launch fireworks about for either side.

I think the Democratic vice president gave the best answers and provided more substance than the Republican candidate, but he lost many points with various untimely outbursts of laughter (seriously, what was that? Did anyone do a drug test after the confrontation?).

Ryan also seemed self-assured and made it clear he was not the youngster his opponent painted him to be. In contrast with Biden, he was cold even when it came to speaking about subjects personal to him. He lost where he should not have lost — in his answer about taxes, according to CNN, whose public polls preferred those of the Democrat.

In the end, according to research findings, it does not seem that the debate resulted in a great change in the voting intentions.

What caught my attention, however, was the contrast between the two vice-presidential candidates and those of the two presidential candidates. Thursday’s debate was much better.

Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were more prepared than Biden and Ryan — or at least their parties thought this. Perhaps because of an excess of preparation, the two preferred evasions and attacks to giving details about their individual platforms. The first presidential debate revealed nothing substantive about either candidate’s plans.

Biden and Ryan, in contrast, seemed willing and seemed to have read the whole book, not just the summary for an entrance exam. Perhaps this was because it was the only debate between the two. Perhaps it was because it was a chance to show independent voters on national network, in the case of Biden, that he was not just a gaffe machine, and in the case of Ryan, that he was neither immature nor too radical. Perhaps it was because of the impressive competency of the mediator, Martha Raddatz of the ABC network, who did not permit anyone to escape responding.

The fact is that the two candidates seem to have assimilated much more of the contents of their parties’ platforms.

It’s amazing that this has come from two populists (Biden to the left of Obama and Ryan to the right of Romney). Among other of a number of coincidences they share is the fact that they both come from cities with large working populations — the Democrat from Scranton, Pennsylvania and the Republican from Janesville, Wisconsin.

They are both devout Catholics who started work in the public sector very early — much earlier than their respective heads of party (Obama and Romney) — and were first elected in their 30s. Both headed respectable committees in Congress (Biden as Head of the Committee on Foreign Relations in the Senate and Ryan as chairman of the House Budget Committee). Both have a penchant for great promises.

More importantly, it is easy to see them as two average Americans and to empathize with one or the other, depending on one’s political orientation.

Both Obama and Romney have had less-than-ordinary life experiences compared to the average American. Obama has his multicultural lifestyle and African ancestry, while Romney comes from an elevated political and economic class and is a devotee of a religion that is subject to prejudice. Both studied at Harvard and both were trained to be winners; both have difficulties expressing human warmth.

Of course, debating is not the same as governing, and the populism of Biden and Ryan at times is tiring. The subjects raised on the platform resulted in a debate with much more content and appeal than the previous one, which featured candidates who had learned to speak at the best (or one of the best) universities on the planet and whose rhetoric is constantly polished by marketers.

For the debate next week, I suggest that Barack and Mitt take a leaf from Joe and Paul’s book.