Last night's debate was a political Rorschach test. Wherever you were at 8:59 pm ET, you were at 10:36 pm. It was a good night for Obama because, when 83 percent of the country believe we are on the wrong track, standing toe-to-toe with McCain on foreign policy is all you need to do. And Obama clearly did that. It was a good night for McCain because, after a week in which he'd been bleeding like a hemophiliac in a barbed wire factory, tonight stanched the bleeding. But it was a bad night for reality. Did both candidates really try to make the case that we are safer today than we were after 9/11?
There was a moment, when the debate ended and the wives came up on stage, where I actually knew, or thought I knew, who had won. I'm sorry to say it, but it was John McCain.
Tonight was a breakthrough for Obama, who showed himself truly ready to be president. He responded knowledgeably, thoughtfully and confidently to the toughest questions on the economy, Iraq, and terror.
Obama is awfully hard to make look naive. He's one icy mofo and he's sharp as hell. He can out-world-leader-reference McCain any day of the week and would thrash him in a game of "measured but strong" (who remembers that game?).
I'm glad that Senator Obama brought domestic issues to a foreign policy debate, because fixing "home" would alter our foreign relations.
I have to say, I did want to see more fire from Obama. I did want him to let the anger loose. I did want him to slap back at McCain's endless patronizing tone.
Tonight I think we know who the next President will be. McCain kept repeating that Obama doesn't "understand." But he clearly did. McCain made up no ground.
The result tonight was another frustrating piece of American media that is at once far too polite, and at the same time, dismissive of an American public's need to know anything beyond jingoistic self-aggrandizement.
I think I feel the same as most Americans when I say I am beyond tired of hearing John McCain sell this war and passing it off as great leadership. To me, McCain proved himself as the stubborn one.
Ironically, the fact that Obama granted his opponent the courtesy of pointing out the places where they agree is the very quality of leadership that McCain continues to falsely claim as his own.
This was clearly a debate between big government and bigger government. The proposals for spending taxpayers' hard-earned money for everything from bailing out Wall Street to bailing out Georgia (theirs, not ours) are simply irresponsible.
Obama was the most presidential, the most prepared to lead this complex country and the most open-minded. He has both intelligence and emotional intelligence.
McCain, to be fair, showed some of his knowledge in a good way. But he's too old, he's from the 20th century, the country doesn't need him now.
