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Conventional WisdomEmily Bazelon and Christopher Beam field questions about Obama's acceptance speech and McCain's veep choice.

Updated Friday, Aug. 29, 2008, at 6:39 PM ET

See Slate's complete Republican National Convention coverage.

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What do you think?

Emily Bazelon: What about judicial appointments? Who is more likely to pick judges who would frown on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the workplace, for example?

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Washington, DC: I can't believe the confidence with which people are predicting that Biden would blow away Palin in a debate. Have you people ever heard Biden speak? It takes him five minutes to say his name. He's an utter bore and he comes across as the ultimate pompous inside-the-Beltway politician who can't help but smile at his own image whenever he passes a mirror. All Palin has to be is fresh and succinct, and she'll win.

Sorry to interrupt the Democratic caucus you're holding here—let's see if you'll post a naysayer's voice.

Emily Bazelon: Duly posted. When I cover the Senate Judiciary Committee, I get a headache from rolling my eyes at Biden. He is long-winded to a fault. But he was good in the Democratic debates, before he dropped out of the race. A debate isn't the Q and A of a Senate hearing. It's a different species of presentation. It's possible for Biden to be terrible in one setting but awfully good in the other.

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Alexandria, VA: Of all the woman in America, this is the best one McCain could pick? Really?

Emily Bazelon: It's not easy to find a Republican woman, in government, who is sufficiently prominent and opposes abortion. And is in what the McCain camp must have decided was the right age bracket.

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Laurel: I've watched very little convention coverage, but I did catch the "Barney Smith" speech, and it troubles me A LOT. He's exactly the kind of person who longs for an America that is not coming back—well-paying unionized blue-collar jobs.

I bet if you examined who voted for Bill Clinton twice and George W Bush twice, you'd find a lot of them fit the profile of whites without college degrees; and I suspect they are the swing voters in this election. But to imply that such people are going to return to the standard of living they enjoyed when energy prices and foreign competition were low, is to raise false hopes that can't help disappoint in the long run.

Christopher Beam: I'm still convinced Barney Smith got picked for his name alone.

To your question, pandering is a proud tradition at conventions. But I think Obama is careful not to suggest that high trade barriers and job protection is the only solution. Hence all the talk about "green collar jobs"—a myth, by some people's lights—that will be created in the energy sector. McCain, meanwhile, has been more blunt. He tells people their jobs aren't coming back. Obama's decision to cast McCain's view as pessimism rather than realism is just the nature of campaigns.

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Navy Yard: Do you think a President Obama would use the office as a pulpit to get black culture to reform itself? As in telling young blacks it's a bad idea to have multiple children out of wedlock. That it's wrong to be homophobic and prejudiced against Latinos and Asians. You could respond that all people should be taught that. But as a black I think he has a duty to his race.

Emily Bazelon: Obama has done some of this as a candidate, by talking about the damage black fathers do by leaving their children, and adding to that points to his own experience of growing up without a [father]. I do think that he has a clear and credible stance on this, and that he's likely to continue making the point as president, and is uniquely positioned to do so.

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Durham, UK: I am a massive Obama supporter, and wonder whether you think he has finally done enough to connect with the 'blue collar' workers and PUMAs. I just cannot see, albeit from a British perspective, how in a head-to-head, Obama could not win.

And do you think, as I do, that Obama is going to make McCain look very old come debate time, I'd be interested to see how much affect you think that will have.

Emily Bazelon: Yes I think you have company on your continent in thinking that Obama should blow McCain away, and if he doesn't, that's because Americans are nuts! But to be fair, he'd be the least experienced president we'd have had, by several measures, at least in the history I can remember. He will have to figure out how to make McCain seem old without making himself seem young and callow. It's like the Biden-Palin question: Being perceived to have the upper hand carries inherent risk.

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The District: Mr. Beam,

You refer to Hillary supporters' lingering doubts about Obama as "gut aversions." Do you think it's possible there are other reasons Hillary supporters might not be on board with Obama? For one, that they might not all have been avid Dems? I mean, I'm not a republican, but I can't say McCain's record of service, bipartisanship, and pissing off his own party isn't somewhat...attractive.

Sure thing—true blue Democrats should get over it and vote Democrat, but there were more than a few independents out there pulling for Hillary for reasons other than policy, no? I'm interested to see what those people do in November...

Christopher Beam: Of course there are other reasons. But I think—and this is just my opinion—that a lot of the polling questions you see (like "What do you value more, experience or change?") are just proxies for people's gut feelings about the candidates. When asked, voters will often describe their choice in terms of policy or character, but I think it usually just boils down to, do you like him or her? Especially in the Clinton/Obama race, when their policies (with the exception of health care) were largely identical.

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