I have a brother who is a plumber. His name's not Joe, and he is voting for Obama.
I watched on CNN, which had the squiggly lines from the uncommitted Ohio voters, and often showed both candidates at the same time. McCain seamed smirking and aggressive when he was not speaking. He blinked a lot. But as these things have gone, he did not disgrace himself. He was energetic and tough, even though he often came across as a jerk.
McCain finally had to mention Ayers to Obama's face, but could not say much more than we need more information. That's it? Oh, and McCain's a victim of Congressman John Lewis's comments.
The discussion about the VP candidates was surreal. On energy, McCain's seems more interested in bashing Chavez than dealing with technology.
On trade, Obama's explanation of the various trade agreements (Columbia, Korea, Peru, etc) had one strong virtue -- he said you had to read the details and consider them on their merits... That's at least progress from the view that you are either for or against trade, regardless of the contents.
On health care, it was not close. I don't see people voting to eliminate tax deductions for employee health plans, or thinking the McCain plan is good for them.
McCain does not like Obama's eloquence. I can see why. Obama was comfortable, smart, tough, and the top of the class this evening.
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And when McCain brought up Ayers, why did Obama not bring up AIP, Charles Keating, William Timmons, Phil Gramm, Vicki Iseman, and Mc's years on the commerce commitee where he all but sold his votes to the highest bidders. McCain has taken so much lobbiest money I can't believe his head doesn't explode when he calls himself a "Maverick". No, Obama should not have traded character smears, but he should have reminded people McCain & Palin also have bad associations and have been caught more than once lying about Obama and about themselves.
He let McCain frame the debate again and did little to discredit McCain's philosophies or judgement.
I'm still voting Obama, but I think he missed a critical opportunity to guarantee a landslide.
BTW, what is McCain saying? We should all be against a middle class tax cut because Joe the "rich" plumber is whining about paying a teeny bit higher federal tax? McCain gets the math wrong too. Joe the rich plumber, still makes out better with the tax credit (for keeping jobs in the US) and health plan credit of Senator Obama. Joe the plumber may not be the brightest bulb so to speak. Let us see how long until he runs that business into the ground.
I like the way that sounds.
When will we ever join the rest of the world when it comes to universal health care? These are not the only choices! Sigh.
Finding John McCain there, I surfaced just in time for Obama.
Barack Obama made his usual elegant approach to real issues facing all of us, and showed us what it will be like to have a president who understands people and can eloquently articulate the difficulties facing us as a people, a President who can tell the truth, and a President....... who actually will be our next President come January 20th.
Excellent job, Senator Obama.
Thanks for giving us hope for a future, far from the erratic quiverings of a trapped quail.
One was enough.
For instance, when McCain said "If you wanted to run against Bush you should have run four years ago", if Obama would have only said something like "Senator McCain if you hadn't supported Bush four years ago and voted with him nearly all the time since then, maybe I wouldn't have to."
By the end, McCain's antics when he wasn't talking probably did him in. He looked like he had ADD. And the eye roll was a killer. He didn't look like someone people would want on the screen for four years.
This was the most substantive debate we have had so far on the issues. Clearly delineating the economic philosophies of "trickle down" (which has served us so well over the last 8 years) versus "middle class empowerment" (which FDR and Bill Clinton fostered).
The MSM is giving me heartburn....please...this is a serious time, with serious issues....enough of the horse race mentality!