The Debate

Too close to bedtime for me, so I didn't watch it until this morning when I tuned it in on C-SPAN when I was fresher. WaPo may call it "lukewarm" but that's only because Obama didn't score any points. This debate wouldn't have changed anyone's vote--you'll dance with the one you came with. However, for people like me who became a McCain supporter very late or after Palin was his pick for VP, it was an eye opener. During the primaries, I was supporting first Huckabee then Romney, so I barely paid attention to McCain. The debate was my first time to really hear a broad range of what he believes. And I don't like all of it, but as far as debating or explaining, the old guy was vastly superior to the young whipper snapper. His wisdom and experience were the "brights" on the classic car speeding into the dark night. Obama's vehicle was the experimental model driving on "dims." (For you young folk, that's high beam and low beam.)

Let's set aside Obama's facial expressions which ranged from grim to grimace, from scowel to snippity, from half closed eyes to downcast eyes. He's far less quick than George Bush, whose been the butt of so many jokes from both his enemies and supporters (and he accepts it with humor, something Obama doesn't have). His stammering and parenthetical lead ups to every question seem to imply, "Help, I'm in quick sand, someone write me a speech!" Eventually, he gets to the point and hits his stride that he has memorized, but it is so painful.

And the head nodding during the question? Doesn't that drive you crazy when someone does that to you? It signals: "Hurry up, I know best, so let me speak." If a question is directed to both, Obama would "hit the buzzer" first with "uh, uh, well, I, I, I, . . ." until he could think of something to say, and then he begins, "The only point I want to make is. . ." and you think he'll finally get it out, but it leads to more stammering. The man seems incapable of saying anything with clarity or succintness. Maybe it was his years as an untenured teacher of law. Love or hate McCain, he gets to the point, even if it begins with "let me tell you my record."

Each speaker was skilled in bringing the question, no matter what it was, around to their best talking points, but Obama was not good at trying to paint McCain as a third Bush, which seems to be all his coaches tell him to say. He's voted with Democrats 97% of the time and accuses McCain of voting with the President, his party, 90%. Duh! McCain was a thorn in Bush's side. Are Americans so stupid that they don't see that's a one string guitar? And even Obama's record agreed with the President 40% of the time. Was he wrong?

My opinion: McCain won because he stayed on topic and struggled less for an answer.

And a note from McCain who is returning to Washington to work on the financial crisis in my mailbox this morning: "Our next president and Congress will face challenging times that require selfless leadership. They must find solutions to issues like the economy, national security, and energy independence. I'm ready to work with Governor Palin and our Congressional allies to address the nation's most pressing challenges. Make no mistake, we are ready to lead and the Obama-Biden Democrats are not."

Vote for experience, and the guy who doesn't stammer.