I’ve been thinking about the upcoming McCain-Obama debates. Even though we still have a little ways to go, I keep wondering to myself which way the media will try to spin this.

In a normal election, I would think that we would see the media trying to lower the bar for Obama because of his lack of experience in this area, but they are in a tight spot. They have lifted Obama up as a oratory genius to such an extent that they will have a hard time backing down from that now. In addition, any comments about lack of experience in any realm will come back to haunt them as people begin to see the lack of experience in all realms.

John McCain, on the other hand should be able to lower the bar a little by having surrogates talk about Obama’s oratory skill in such a way that people may not be prepared for John McCain’s firm grasp of the issues, and ability to talk about them in the debate. His surrogates will also hopefully be able to bring up Obama’s skills in such a way that he sounds exactly like the empty suit full of flowery phrases that he really is.

So, which way will the media and the Obama camp jump? And, can they create a narrative that will work for those who don’t follow politics as much as we do?