The Great Debate

I always enjoy being proved wrong, and last night's Presidential debate turned out to be a really good one. We should let Bob Shieffer host all of the debates from now on, he controlled the candidates well, asked pointed questions, and the time flew by. It was a sit-down debate, so John McCain couldn't wander around the stage while Obama was speaking. I could have listened for another 90 minutes and not gotten bored. For the life of me, I can't think of a single Joe the Plumber joke this morning.

John McCain had his best debate. He was impassioned, feisty, looked at his opponent, blinked a lot, wrote copious notes as an emotional outlet, and avoided being contemptuous. Was it enough to turn around popular opinion of him?

Barack Obama upped his cool and gracious factor, by not attacking Sarah Palin, letting many of John's jabs go by him, and giving more information in his answers. To win, all he had to do was continue to project himself the way he had during the previous two debates, and the polls of independent voters would tip the balance in his favor.

There was a lot of give and take between the two, with the most detailed critiques of each other's economic policies. The problem with this is that things are changing so fast from day to day, that by the time one gets in office, their ideas won't work or will be outdated. But it gave us a good snapshot of how the two campaigns would approach the crisis. John McCain got off the best lines, saying, "Senator Obama, I am not President Bush, if you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago."

The worst part for Senator McCain was during the segment on Obama's past associations with Weather Underground founder William Ayers. Since this is a ridiculous charge in the first place, John came off whining and looking petulant, while Barack gave a cool, calm explanation. It got worse when Barack brought up the threats yelled out at rallies of Sarah Palin's, of "terrorist" and "kill him," and she did nothing to diffuse the situation. John just went into a defensive ramble about the quality of people attending his rallies.

A lot was said about the two's approach to health care and education, and I think Obama had the more substantive approach. Things could have gotten heated and weird when we had two males talking about abortion, but it was surprisingly civil. Neither did enough to convince anyone watching to change their mind on this issue, but it was nice to see it on national television.

Again, all of the polls of independent voters had Obama winning, even Fox News grudgingly reported it in their own poll. While John McCain gave his best performance, it seems that people prefer the demeanor and personality of Barack Obama. The race may tighten up within the next couple of weeks, but I just don't see how John McCain can come up with any winning strategy. If he weren't Republican and using tired, old Republican tricks, he would stand a better chance. But, people do want a change and seem willing to give Obama the chance to produce it.