When I first heard that candidates were allowed to address each other, unlike in past debates, I was excited. I thought we might actually have a full-fledged debate on our hands. That hope didn’t quite pan out, but there were a few moments of questioning and interjections. I would have liked to see more, but since one candidate barely acknowledged the other’s presence (see below), that was pretty hard to do.
McCain closed by noting he doesn’t need on the job training. I’m fairly certain that this argument is so far out the window that it went through the neighbors’ windows and hit the squirrel in the yard seven houses down when he selected a certain governor of a state that begins with A and ends in laska.
McCain exhibited a strong contempt for Obama, not ever looking at him when either candidates were talking or McCain was listening or addressing Obama, and not chuckling at points Obama made that McCain disagreed with but instead snickering and wily sneering at them.
Why does McCain belabor pork-barrel spending? Are there no other problems with fiscal policy in this country? Or does he have nothing better to talk about?
Was McCain’s over-defending the war in Iraq a good thing for him or a bad one?
Why won’t Obama say the surge was only a part of reducing violence and not the only responsible strategy?
Overall, a draw; I think both candidates did a good job. Neither made a game-changing mistake or had a game-changing positive moment. With McCain’s slipping poll numbers, I think he had more to prove and needed to say something to gain ground or force Obama to say something to lose ground. That neither happened is a minus for McCain, but we’ll see how the debate plays out in the next few days.
