My Take on Prez Debate #2

Oh, boy. This one was more exciting. Again, not a game changer. In fact, at this point, I'm doubtful that anything would be a game changer, with the exception of some hidden scandal or salacious details suddenly brought to light. Neither of them said anything startlingly new about their policy ideas. After we've heard the same thing several times over and everyone knows where the candidates stand and know where they differ (contrasts were drawn even sharper last night than they were at the first debate), the debates become more of a show. I don't say that negatively--we want to know the facts and details, but Americans want to see a show too. How do the candidates temperaments play out? What kind of connection do the candidates make to voters? Who gives off a more presidential air? All of these things were being considered last night.

The 'Straight Talk Express' Lost a Wheel
Obama said that last night in reference to McCain's representation of one of Obama's policies. But it sums up perfectly what happened to our maverick last night.

Mistake #1 First, when Tom Brokaw asks who McCain would appoint to the position of treasury secretary if elected, he says, "Not you, Tom." Ummm . . . that kind of took me off guard. It just seemed out of place. Maybe he was trying to be funny, but it made him look crotchety.

Mistake #2 Then he speaks a bit condescendingly to a young African-American man who asked a question about the economy. In answering his question when talking about Fannie and Freddie he said something to the effect of, "I'll bet you've never even heard of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac until recently." Er, kind of a gross assumption. That sort of took me off guard, too. Anyone who's ever taken out a student loan is somewhat familiar with at least Fannie.

Mistake #3 He makes another lame attempt at humor when talking about health care and refers to himself as perhaps needing a hair transplant. Um, boooo. Not EVEN funny. It was kind of painful how flatly that joke fell. It was just awkward.

Mistake #4 And then, he commits the mother of all his mistakes up to this point when he refers to Obama as "that one." Ewww and yikes. I'm not suggesting any racist intent. Come on. But it just looked and sounded reaaallly bad. Let's just say his (perhaps inadvertant) objectifying of his opponent did not play in his favor. Oh, at not all, my friends.

Though this is not exactly a "mistake," it also didn't look good when he and Obama were kind of parrying for more time than they were allowed. Though it would only be fair that they both be allowed the same amount of time, somehow McCain came off as whiny when he insisted that he have a chance to follow up, too. Have you ever been babysitting two siblings and gave them each a scoop of ice cream after dinner? One normally cries, "No fair, he has more than I do!" That was McCain's tone.

And lastly, it looked bad when afterward, he and Cindy got the heck out of dodge, leaving Barack and Michelle to work the crowd alone. It was pretty telling, if you ask me.

'That One' Won
Okay, okay, I'm biased. To be fair, Obama had some shaky moments. Foreign policy isn't quite his forte. Obama also has a tendency to get into speechifying mode instead of directly answering the question, and when he gets too wonkish, he loses people. But other than a few moments that could have used a bit of smoothing over, he seemed pretty confident and collected overall. I daresay he seemed presidential.

Look, both of them have reputations--Obama has a reputation for being cool and collected, and has even been criticized by the media for being too cool, for not springing to action fast enough and hard enough. McCain has a reptuation for being hotheaded and impulsive. Both of them lived up to their reputations in obvious ways last night. McCain popped off with some awkward, testy comments, and Obama sat back and smiled, allowing McCain to sink his own ship.

Chris Matthews, during some post-debate commentary, made a comment about the two candidates' smiles. Obama, he said was "gifted with a wonderful smile", while McCain's smile has a "menacing quality." Okay, he's obviously biased too, but that was funny. No? Judge for yourself: