Debate contrasts leadership styles

WASHINGTON — John McCain and Barack Obama put their contrasting leadership styles on display as they staged what amounted to an audition for president during the great financial bailout debate of 2008.

Their vast differences:

McCain tends to be action-oriented and given to dramatic gestures. He listens to his gut instinct and rattles off ideas. He can also come across as impulsive and temperamental.

Obama strikes a reflective and cautious pose. He collects information and labors over pros and cons. He is so studious that he sometimes appears detached and indecisive.

Republican McCain can be too hot, Democrat Obama too cool.

Does a nation facing both domestic crisis and international conflict need McCain's passion or Obama's calm?

Neither demeanor is wrong, yet neither works in every circumstance the next president will face.

Over the past two weeks as banks failed and markets tanked, both candidates' actions have provided a window into how each could lead in the White House.

Politics certainly was at play in their postures, given that there's little more than five weeks before the election. But so were leadership mechanics shaped from McCain's experiences in negotiating rooms over nearly three decades in Congress and Obama's time debating in academic, legal and state legislative arenas.

"Their initial reactions were following their personal scripts," said Paul C. Light, a New York University professor of organizational studies and public service.

So, too, their debate performances Friday at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.

"We've got fundamental problems in the system. And Main Street is paying a penalty for the excesses and greed in Washington, D.C., and on Wall Street," an emotive McCain said, seemingly trying to tap into Americans' anger without getting overheated.

His tone measured, the cerebral Obama appeared to try to come across as thoughtful, not professorial. "We have to move swiftly, and we have to move wisely. And I've put forward a series of proposals that make sure that we protect taxpayers," Obama said.

A day earlier in a private White House summit, their public styles seemed to reverse. Obama was the active candidate, McCain not nearly as much, according to participants who described the private meeting.