As the press release we prepared at work yesterday in advance of the debate, was titled, “Obama Knocks it Out of the Park!” Another title could have been “How is this election close?”
For the first half hour I thought Jim Lehrer was the most impressive, demanding that both candidates talk to each other and own up to how the economic crisis would change their governing. Neither could really say for sure, but Joe Biden, speaking post-debate on CBS explained best in saying these are unprecedented times and no one can tell what the future of the economy will hold. The closer brings it home.
I’d been waiting for Obama to tie the economic crisis to the $10 billion/month war in Iraq. He nailed it when he finally got to it, 34 minutes in.
When the conversation shifted to foreign affairs—McCain’s supposed strong suit—McCain looked the fool—“meeting without preconditions will legitimate Ahmedinejad,” “Senator Obama doesn’t know the difference between a tactic and a strategy.” What? He just sounded annoyed and irrelevant. Obama gave McCain the pounding of the night when he schooled him on his mistakes in Iraq:
You said quick and easy
You said we would find the weapons of mass destruction
You said we’d be greeted as liberators
You said Shia and Sunni had no historical
The he followed up with the central question we need to ask about starting this war:
WAS THIS WISE?
As the debate went on, Obama looked more and more presidential. He even turned the meeting with rogue regimes argument in his favor by saying as President he’d reserve the right to meet with whoever the hell he damn well pleased.
McCain, this time he both twitched AND tried to scare the Jews in reminding us that Ahmedinejad called Israel as “stinking corpse.”
But McCain’s in the weeds. My own personal Nielson ratings would have McCain’s dial way low down on the screen, Obama’s way up top. No surprises tonight. Other than the perplexing wonder at how McCain is only 5 points down nationally.
Here comes the naysayer.
As much as I wish Obama knocked it out of the park, I was actually disappointed with the debate. Not that Obama did badly. He just didn’t do great. And even though I thought McCain was a jerk in the way he interacted with Obama, he did better than I thought he would. I disagree with most of his positions, but he stated them forcefully and didn’t look a complete fool. I don’t think anyone who was leaning towards McCain would jump ship.
And not to bring down Biden, but that statement sounds like political fluff to me. I think both candidates should be able to prioritize their proposed programs and say which will be the first to go now that a good chunk of money is (probably) going to the bailout.