Neither had to do much except appear steady and calm, while their opponent floundered to explain a policy stance that had immediately become poisonously unpopular.
Last week alone, Mr. Stern was subpoenaed by the City Council to explain a policy of soliciting donations from private groups in exchange for the use of city parks, and then had to answer outraged complaints that his department was trying to charge a homeowner $42,000 for cutting down a tree.
But Obama lacks the ability to explain a policy or a predicament.
"We've done a lot," he says, explaining a recent policy of moving families out of inappropriate bed and breakfast accommodation, where residents may find themselves hiding the needles on their window ledges from children and being approached for dodgy drug deals and sex.
Only a few articles, thus, focus analysis on explaining why a policy succeeded or failed (for example, but not only, with respect to equity), with even fewer specifically considering successful experiences.
Anticapitalist ideology would not explain a Jacksonian policy that replaced a quasi-national bank as repository of government funds with dozens of state and private banks, equally controlled by capitalists and even more dedicated than was Biddle to profit making.
In five years of covering national security issues at the Bush White House, I've seen classified information leaked or suddenly declared "declassified" for many reasons, most often to explain a new policy and sometimes to back up a presidential statement.
On the down side, there was a self-confessed "brain fade" in a radio interview when she failed to explain a key policy on house-building.
The televised address marked an extraordinary occasion when Putin apparently felt compelled to explain a major policy decision to the public, reflecting the contentious nature of the retirement reforms.
