
Friday night I spent hours rolling around between Playmates in a peppermint schnapps-induced euphoria. Nah, of course I didn't. I watched the presidential debates in rapt attention.
Obama came out looking relaxed and eager to play. McCain looked very uptight and for the first 15 minutes I swear I could hear his voice shaking. Which is a pity because -- are you ready for this? -- I thought he raised some good points.
He said Barack Obama had asked for something like $9,000,000 in earmarks for his district* and only rescinded the requests after he began his presidential campaign. I wanted Obama to address this directly, to tell me these requests were for very worthwhile things that would embarrass McCain, but he didn't. I was also interested that McCain has visited Wyzckstan or whatever it's called, and Obama hasn't, even though he's on a foreign relations subcommittee. What influence Wyzckstan has over our security I don't know, but interesting he went there.
Barack, however, displayed a much better sense of how to communicate on television, which is what has carried him far, and will continue to do so. He had that Reagan-esque thing where he just looked like he had been sent in by central casting to play the part. McCain's suit looked too tight, his facial expressions were too tight...doesn't he have a team of top experts to direct him on these things? Or is he a "maverick" who doesn't listen to them?
I also thought Obama had the edge when he said he would talk to the people who have it in for us. Sure, maybe it won't do any good, but no one could label us bullies if we did. McCain sounded like he believed in escalating from the beginning, thinking the silent treatment was going to win anyone over. Has he not learned anything in 72 years?
McCain's longtime friend Joe Biden brought me back to my senses in his appearance on CNN when he said, in essence, So what John McCain thinks he knows all about everything? He's made the wrong choices and taken the wrong side all the way down the line for eight years!
Speaking of CNN, I thought their post-game show was great, with lots of partisan and non-partisan pundits from both sides weighing in. But I was leery of a pro-Obama slant, so I decided to check out Fox News' show: Sean Hannity, rattling off six-month old talking points about Obama's "thin" resume that proved ineffectual for Hillary Clinton and have been proven false 1,000 times on the Internet(s). Fox sucks!
The news the next day said Barack Obama had the edge with independents, and I could tell by the meter CNN had going: independents were lockstep with Democrats for much of the debate, but Republicans surged on any mention of war and 9/11.
The Biden-Palin "debates" (massacre might be more like it) are the ones I'm REALLY interested in seeing. October 2nd can't get here fast enough!
* Before his speech at the RNC, Rudy Giuliani told a reporter earmarks were okay because, as a politician, it was your job to bring home the bacon for your district.
Bad move on Obama to use the phrase "John is correct / right on that." Should have said, "we agree on that point." He created around 9 good soundbytes of himself saying how right McCain was. I am sure we will see them on his next ad.
I saw it Obama 10, McCain 9 in the first round.
By the way, of course Obama couldn't say it, but some earmarks have actually gone to some worthwhile projects. Things they couldn't ram into the budget, or get approval in a stand alone bill.