9/26/08 Presidential Debate #1

For a Friday night, our debate watch party turnout was great. We had 15 kids show up and I thought the debate was a great success.

It was clear that Sen. Obama has the upperhand when it comes to the economy--the issue I think will ultimately lead to Sen. Obama being elected president. This issue is first and foremost on voters' minds and it's not going to go away anytime soon. With Sen. McCain's Keating 5 ties (which just because it happened 10+ years ago doesn't mean it's not relevant or important) and backwards "trickle" down ideas. which clearly haven't worked the past 8 years, the American people are looking for a stronger plan that will help them NOW. And they don't have to look far to find it. I would have like both candidates to have stronger answers about their plans and ideas about the bailouts as well as what they will need to sacrifice in their administrations in order to fund it.

I was worried going in that Sen. McCain would show a true advantage over Sen. Obama when it came to foreign policy and the war in Iraq. But Sen. Obama stayed calm and collected (while his opponent often came across as angry, and when he wasn't angry, it was kind of creepy how he never looked at Obama) and presented his plans and ideas and I think it will resonate with the American people. While media pundits always like to call everything a "tie" to keep people watching right until election day, I expect to see Obama get a boost from this debate.

I have to say, I miss the old John McCain. I've always really respected him (especially because of his work with Russ) but there is nothing "maverick" about him anymore. He is clearly playing into the hands of base (do I even need to talk about Palin?) and I really miss the guy who people genuinely couldn't count on to vote straight party. Oh well. I guess that's what a presidential race will do to you--but perhaps at the cost of the race. The maverick thing would have worked well, I think, if he'd actually been a maverick recently. But you can't vote with Bush 90% of the time and expect people to think that you "buck the party" and think for yourself.