It's Going to Take a Lot More Than Joe the Plumber

How much do I not like John McCain now, because of this final debate in Campaign 2008? Let me count the ways - which, at this point, number far greater than the components of a well-equipped plumber's tool collection.

I'm struck, immediately, by two moments. No, the now-famous Joe the Plumber was nowhere in sight in either case. I'm struck by, and I'm stuck on, the following statement by John McCain: "I'm proud of the people that come to our rallies." Whoa. You're proud of that, Senator McCain? Really? You're proud of the rabid crowd that grows so inflamed that it spews out random belches of anger and racism and murderous violence like molten comets zooming skyward from the bowels of an erupting volcano? How would YOU characterize the hollering of "kill him!" during GOP stump speeches when Barack Obama's name is mentioned, Senator McCain? You can't get away with blaming one or two bubbles popping at the surface of the boiling pot of oatmeal for being hot, and excuse the rest of the pot from having reached the boiling point.

The other involved a second incendiary topic -- the choice issue. Moderator Bob Schieffer dared to tread through the treacherous turf of abortion. Soon enough, the talk turned to late-term abortions, and Obama's opposition to them except in the case of the health or life of the mother. And there was John McCain twitching his fingers in the air to put the word "health" in quotation marks -- at once insulting and stunningly dismissive. A woman's "health" is something to be demeaned or discounted? A woman's "health" is so trivial that you put it in visual quotation marks as a wink-wink nudge-nudge type of thing? Excuse me?

Schieffer caused many of the softest sore spots to be laid bare. William Ayers came up for discussion, in what appeared to be an easy point scored for John McCain. Everyone knew or suspected that Ayers would be brought up somehow or other. McCain attempted to use him as a charging bull in a bullfight, with Obama as a sort of matador, brushing the bull past any danger zones with a flourish of his bright red cape. And it was a very fair point Obama made, observing how Ayers has become a main focus, if not an obsession, with the McCain campaign -- which he said tells you more about the McCain campaign than it does about Obama himself.

One of the tender spots for McCain was Obama's reference to the fiscal recklessness and wreckage of the past eight years. McCain almost growled "I'm not President Bush," adding that if Obama had wanted to run against Dubya he should have done so in 2004. As if a single pointed retort in a single debate could reverse a long and obvious track record of McCain's embrace of the most unpopular and incompetent chief executive and most misbegotten policies ever. The rest of us could think back, too. I could return to sometime in 2001 as the time to start asking "why can't we have accountability?" instead of waiting until mid-October, 2008, as McCain did at the Hofstra University debate.

And Congressman John Lewis's name came up again - clearly John McCain is still smarting from the angry, divisive rhetoric in his and Sarah Palin's campaign appearances that recklessly stirs up audience members. Truth hurts, I guess. In my opinion, Lewis said nothing to apologize for, nor does the Obama campaign have anything to repudiate. The civil rights icon, who remembers how horrifically high the political temperature during that tortured time in American history, made a fair comparison between the hate-filled environment back then and the vapors being exacerbated among the desperate and misguided now. For McCain then to huff and whine, childishly, to the effect of -- "well, YOU did it TOO" made me wonder when the real adults we once heard so loudly boasted about by Republicans in the dawn of the Bush 2.0 era will be back in charge.

For an answer, one was left looking, yet again, at the opposite side of the debate table where Barack Obama sat. Once more, actions spoke louder than words. Will anything ever unspool this guy? He's been through dozens of debates with every imaginable contender by now, and weathered every challenge, put-down, rash accusation, and kick to the groin, and he's still standing without even a visible bruise. He was consistently a study in grace under fire offering gentle corrections when he felt McCain misrepresented his record, whether it involved tax policy, William Ayers, or ACORN, and holding his fire when given a justified opportunity to slam Palin for being the wrong shade of green (and we're not talking about her environmental record). It became clearer than ever whose hand would be, and so far has been, the steadiest at the controls.

The debate drinking game crowd was probably disappointed - not one mention of the word "maverick," and only one "my friends." However, if you were listening for such campaign stump standards as "giving 750 billion dollars to countries that don't like us very much" and variations on the "I know how to (fill in the blank here)," then you probably got a nice buzz out of the evening. But anyone could have gotten thoroughly plowed on the insults, leers, angry-nearly-to-apparent-derangement facial expressions, Dubya-reminiscent smirks, and overall condescension from McCain's side of the table. At 72 years of age, he behaves like a spoiled brat and sore loser on the playground. Sorry, but I can't picture that demeanor sitting across a delicate negotiating table with a dicey international adversary, or "reaching across the aisle to get things done" with political opponents here at home - and accomplishing much of anything.

What struck me while watching the CNN broadcast (with its live reaction meters) was how McCain and Obama behaved toward each other. While watching them react to one another, Obama reminded me of a weary but still patient dad watching his unruly two-year-old throw another tantrum in public. McCain, on the other hand, looked at Obama (yes, he actually did look AT Obama from time to time) as though he were some lab specimen. There were two particularly nasty little putdowns wrapped in contrived compliments purportedly praising Obama's eloquence while trying to skewer him with it. The people meters, interestingly enough, showed again how women seem to warm to Obama's positions, and their reactions went south every time McCain went on the attack. It remains to be seen whether the now-legendary Joe the Plumber can tweak the pipes enough to clear the blockage in McCain's now-constipated campaign.

So did mine. But admittedly, I was already there, anyway. I'd still like to like John McCain, especially since I once did - to some degree anyway. And with every day on this marathon, in every speech, and every debate, I'm less motivated to do so. Mercifully, at least the debate portion of the season is now over.

Read more reactions to the Obama-McCain Presidential Debate from HuffPost bloggers

Comments

[sparkle44]

My husband and I laughed together at McCain's nonesense during the debate. His economic policies to us sounded like more of the same repulican baloney. I think they have seriously underestimated the anger of responsible Americans such as us. We play by the rules, we have a morgage that we can meet, on a house that we can afford. No credit card debt, one small monthly payment for a motorcycle (45 mpg) what we save in gas costs makes up for the payment. Dedicated savings (with a whopping 2.75% interest rate). While we are watching our 401k go up in smoke, he is calling for more capital gains cuts and bigger tax breaks for the mega companies, who are not hiring unless you live in Mexico or another "developing nation." I can'only find very few products made in the USA. while most of the small businesses are service based and pretty soon all those extras like dinner out or special treats will be unafordable. I could go on, but its like preaching to the choir on the HufPost. I hope it's a landslide victory for the Democrats, from someone who will be voting strictly across party lines for the first time ever in 25 years of voting.

[athenasword]

Great post and brilliant overview of this debate. I think you characterize each of these men pretty well and I was with you right up until "I'd still like to like John McCain"...

I am done trying to like him. I dont' think we should try and force ourselves to like him. He is not likeable. He has become rather hard to even think about liking - he has become a crabby ol' man who is mean, sarcastic, vindictive, angry, frustrated, confused and dishonorable.

Barack Obama is likeable. He is calm and cool. He listens. He is agreeable. He is patient to a fault. He is kind and enormously generous. And, I truly cannot wait till he takes the Oath of Office!!!

[JillQ]

When McCain made the remark about not being George Bush and said "if Obama had wanted to run against Dubya he should have done so in 2004," the best answer would have been "Senator McCain, if YOU are so AGAINST Dubya, why didn't YOU run against him in 2004?"

Sen. McCain has been an embarrassment. I used to like him too. When he hired Bush's team that so disgustingly slandered him in 2000, I saw a man who has put his ambition first and country last.

[dmahler]

Even McCain's own people agreed he needed a debate win last night. So what does he do? He diverts everyone's attention to a "Joe the Plumber" nobody by bringing him up almost 20 times, and then today proclaims that Joe the Plumber was the debate winner?

If McCain shows this much intelligence as President, then Dubyah is going to look like a genius in retrospect.

[dlinguist]

Joe "the Plumber" Wurzelbacher may be the winner when he cashes in on his 15 min of fame, but as it stands, the McCain camp might have considered vetting the man before invoking him. Turns out he is unlicensed in his county, as is his boss. Lucas county requires plumbers to be licensed. In addition he owes nearly $1200 in back taxes. Nothing against Joe, but McCain et al once more prove that they're impulsive and don't do their homework. Sound like any current president we all know?

[athenasword]

Worse, actually.

[polyfoamworkshop]

McCain stay on his national campaign message of "don't trust this man(Mr. Obama), I'm ready on day one my friends. Actually McCain reminds me of a tired mad old man with serious lack of sensitivity to history, especially those who remember the dark days of America when the civil rights movement was in total conflict with the racist quest of many who didn't want change. For those "Joe 6 pack" out there, be happy, McCain supports your nasty chants of hate and racism. McCain's mismanagement of his national campaign gives us a glaring glimpse into the problem solving skills he will use if he becomes President. I'm glad that the debates are finish, watching McCain just add to the overall depress feelings I have as our country reacts to the epic mess. I'm not sure what McCain needs right now, all I know is we don't need him to be the next president.

[Skua]

I thought at the time that Obama had blown McCain out of the water - much more so than I initially thought the first two times. (Note to Pat Buchanan and others: the debates are not scored by boxing referees and so it doesn't matter how many punches somebody landed. The object of the debate is not to land punches, but to persuade undecided people to vote for you, so the changes in opinion are the ONLY true measure of "who won".)

I think that the pundits who faintly praised Obama as "flat" or "cautious" or "off his game" and so on were completely off their own games. Obama was right where he needed to be and I can't think of a mistake he made other than the slip of the tongue about "enforcing unfair agreements". There were two things which I think were particularly skillful:

(a) The Bill Ayers business: after a couple of rounds of "the people want to talk about the economy", which encouraged McCain to march farther into the jungle, he turned on him with a resigned "All right, lets talk about Bill Ayers" and flattened him.

(b) Obama started talking TO Joe the Plumber, and of course a few other million in the middle class, through the camera lens, while McCain was going on ABOUT Joe the Plumber. I thought this was brilliant. Brilliant.

[jhNY]

I'm pretty sure that plumber guy has a show on the sci-fi channel wherein he chases ghosts and other fearful phantasms, which as they don't exist, probably can't hurt us, much like Joe the plumber's opinions on the issues of the day are fantastic, but harmless to everything but logic, which being made of sterner stuff, can take whatever's he's dishing out.