Fox News’ Chris Wallace Talks To Mediaite About His Convention Coverage And The State Of The Race

Wallace was particularly impressed by the parade of people who had known Romney on either a personal or professional level and offered powerful testaments to the GOP presidential candidate’s humanity and competency.

“People who have dealt with him in the Church and in business warmed him up and made him seem like a more likable, human figure,” says Wallace. “I thought they did a pretty good job of taking the argument to President Obama.”

Wallace was, however, surprised by the extent to which the convention appealed to Obama’s 2008 voters who may still hold a positive opinion of the President. “If you noticed, the tone was much more in sorrow than in anger,” says Wallace. “They are apparently very sensitive to Obama voters they are trying to attract who feel good about their vote for Obama and are not angry at him.”

“Romney’s job was just to show people unhappy with Obama that he’s a safe, responsible alternative,” says Wallace. “I think he did pretty well with that.”

Clint Eastwood’s memorable speech inspired mixed reactions. Members of the press corps largely felt that the speech was both fumbling and botched, while some right-leaning commentators thought Eastwood’s framing of President Obama as an empty chair was masterful. Asked if he felt that Eastwood’s speech would have either a positive or negative impact on Romney’s presidential prospects, Wallace doubted the speech would have a measurable impact on the campaign.

“It seemed to me that, to a degree, political correspondents are all frustrated political operatives,” says Wallace. “If I had been an organizer, I’d have put Eastwood on earlier and certainly a little shorter.” He says he would have put Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on first and his speech would have led into a biographical video of Romney that was not broadcast in primetime on the networks. Only then would he have had Romney take the stage. “Having said that, I think it’s forgotten by the weekend,” says Wallace.

Turning towards this week’s Democratic National Convention, Wallace says that the President’s party has a real challenge before them which is, in a way, more difficult to overcome than Romney’s:

Their toughest challenge is the comparisons that those of us in Denver in 2008 will draw. It seemed so exciting then. I think reporters and Democrats were caught up in this promise of hope and change. I remember being in the field at Invesco. When candidate Obama spoke, as a matter of stagecraft, it was a thrilling night. I think it will be hard to recreate the magic. He’s not candidate Obama. He’s got a four year record. I think, his toughest challenge will be the comparisons to the magic of four years ago.

When asked if President Obama should offer a clear plan for a second presidential term as a means of breaking the stalemate in the polls between himself and Gov. Romney, Wallace says “that would be an interesting thing.” Wallace notes that there are “plenty of things to attack” about Romney and his campaign, but those charges should be left to Obama’s surrogates.

“He can take a couple of delicate shots, but I do think — to the degree that it does create hope and change — what has been largely missing from his campaign is a positive argument for why he deserves another four years and what he’ll do for that four years,” says Wallace.

Wallace did not dismiss the increasingly common charge among President Obama’s supporters: that his detractors are stoking subtle racially-based animosities among the electorate’s white voters. He says that, while those charges should not be outright dismissed, they can be disagreed with. “It’s like Republicans saying that the Obama campaign is indulging in class warfare,” says Wallace. “A lot of liberal commentators dismiss that.”

Wallace often makes news, but is rarely the subject of speculative media-hyped stories. That changed when he went on a four day vacation with actor George Clooney to his villa in Lake Como. Wallace says that they had established a relationship after Clooney appeared on Fox News Sunday to discuss a humanitarian trip to South Sudan. “We hit it off and saw each other again at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” says Wallace. He says that Clooney is a “news junkie” whose father was a local news anchor for many years, “so he’s very sophisticated and interested in the news.”

When asked if Wallace took some heat from Fox News Channel viewers for taking a vacation with an outspoken liberal activist, Wallace replies, “Sure, but who cares.”

“I’m not a conservative; I like to think I’m a newsman and down-the-middle,” says Wallace. “We disagreed on some issues, but we could disagree agreeably.” Wallace says that he and Clooney talked and agreed that there is a lack of civil discourse in American politics and it is increasingly rare that political disagreements are not followed by personal recriminations.

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This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.