John McCain Naked

It was like A Tale of Two Smiles last night -- It was the best of us, it was the worst of us. One man was a study in calm. The other was a study in batshit crazy.

I kept thinking of that line in As Good As It Gets, when Jack Nicholson says, "You make me want to be a better man." Honestly, I know how foo-foo this makes me sound but Obama makes me want to be a better man. Maybe I did drink the kool-aid, but you know what? Jimmy-crack-corn.

When is the last time we had a leader that we wanted to emulate? Seriously, tomorrow when some douche cuts me off on Sunset Blvd, I'm just going to open my window at the next traffic light and calmly say, "I'd like to address your driving style. If you don't mind."

We've had so many years of people who vilify their political enemies, years of Baby Huey Bush and Cheney, of Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity laying claim to a country that only exists in the black-prison sites of their twisted minds (and at McCain rallies). It's been blood feud after blood feud for far too long. Listening to McCain was a big hunk of enough-is-enough. My kidneys are gonna shut down if I have to endure four more years of that bile.

Mccain and Palin and their ilk don't laugh. They patronize. They don't smile, they snicker. They don't debate, they denigrate. They don't talk, they condescend. They don't argue, they ridicule. There is a nastiness, a mean-spiritedness, a smug certitude, and a profound and baseless arrogance seething from both of them. These aren't leaders. They're not even grownups. They're not a team of mavericks, they're a team of schmendricks (Yiddish. Means someone who can't succeed but thinks he can. Also means penis).

Now, contrast that with Barack Obama. Always respectful, even when disrespected. Always calm, even when faced with contempt. Always articulate, never talking down. He never rattles and never takes it personally. He's not just a diplomat, he's a gentleman. You know what he has? Manners.

I'm exhausted by rigid, condescending ideologues like John McCain. He's like a circus mirror, showing us some distorted version of ourselves as only he sees us. He says "spread the wealth" as if he were saying "spread the herpes." He uses air-quotes while saying "a mother's health," as if it's some radical fantasy invented by "those who would seek to destroy us." McCain's grin is an undisguised scowl of anger and intolerance. But the worst part is that he thinks that's our scowl too.

John McCain is a rear-view image of yesterday's America. Barack Obama is a signpost to the road ahead. It's that simple. And if the people McCain is so proud of don't like it? Jimmy-Crack-Corn. And I don't care.

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

Comments

[flatus]

Three strikes and we're out.

[cgr]

This is the contrast masterfully drawn between the two tickets, the two campaigns. Let's hope the inner sense of right and decency that I believe most Americans have will be the determinate on voting day.

To be led and to represented by decency, honor, intelligence and right principles is the worthiest of choices.

[Bobotheclown]

It's not over till it's over. The Republicans have always found a way to elect candidates that have been far worse than McCain and that are far more obviously unqualified than Palin.
2000 was predicted to be a close election. The Republicans knew that if they only took one extra swing state they would win. Florida went for Gore but was called by Jeb for his brother. To the enduring embarrassment of Floridians and the open scorn of the entire world.
2004 was predicted to be a close election and Florida could not be called on for serial fraud so several of the swing states were targeted with fraudulent electronic voting machines. Ohio went for Kerry (pre and post election poles) but was counted for Bush.
2008 is predicted to be a close election (Bradley effect) and Florida has installed new electronic voting machines. The electronic voting machines in Ohio have never been investigated.
How will it happen this time? It will happen in a swing state where all the exit poles say that Obama won. It will be close but McCain will be the winner. New electronic Dibold machines will have just been installed by a Republican govenor who swears that they are accurate even though they produce no paper trail that can be audited. The new President will not allow an investigation. The media will move on to a new subject. They will not cover the protestors who stand in the way of McCains limousine on Inauguration Day.

[ZekeCDN]

Amidst the constant over-analysis of the most trivial details of each candidate, I think Michael's perfectly captured the real "bigger picture" -- the true choice facing the country.

[rbloom]

Attention please! This election isn't over yet!
Now is not the time for reflecting on how McCain's style has doomed him. Now is the time to redouble our efforts -- and our donations -- to get him elected. There is nothing as unpredictable and dangerous as a power elite with its back to the wall. Things are looking good right now, for sure, but the next 19 days will be a sh*tstorm and it's going to take a lot of focus and hard work to bring this thing home.
Stay on it!

[darker]

"May Obama's calmness and clarity become the tone resounding through our country."
YOU SAID IT.
WE NEED IT.

Enough of Rovian Republican division, corruption, lies, greed, war-mongering, deregulation and criminality in all facets of existence. REPUBLICANS HAVE BEEN TOTALLY DISGUSTING.
They deserve to lose.

[leecathryn]

I have been thinking all of this and more, all that spews out of John McCain and Sarah Palin are lies and hate. I don't want these people having the power that they are campaigning to achieve. I am truly frighted of the possibility of a McCain/Palin presidency.

It is very hard to believe J McCain & S Palin are adults, to me they look like 2 bullies trying to get the crowds to follow the crazy, twisted lies that they tell. They hide behind the real issues, seriously they do not have a clue and the sad part is, they do not care to.

Barack Obama not only understands, he has a plan to help us all out of the mess from the last 8 years of lying to Americans and treating us as children with scare tactics.

Obama/Biden 08 OUR ONLY HOPE!!!!!

[billbb]

I agree completely! It looked a little like Obama was channeling the laughing Buddha in the debates, making McSame look even older, angrier and flakier as the night went on. Having no empathy at all, McCain never picked up on this. I cannot say that he lost simply because of last night, but last night was his last opportunity to stop the slide, and he blew it completely. Again.

[4akinderworld]

And the rumblings of trolls has given way to the peaceful sound of unity.

[Leedox]

Thank you Mr Seitzman! Just the other day my Aussie husband said, "Obama personifies everyhting I love about Americans and McCain the exact opposite". Obama seeks to unify Americans and McCain/Palin clearly seek to divide. Calm, collected and thoughtful vs angry, erratic and callous.

[marysandra]

Yahoo! Obama inspires us to be better people, inspiration from him and persperation from us will lead us out of this abyss..Please my fellow Americans, use your brains and not your bias, give this country a leader it can respect once again..It's been so long, I barely remember the last one who brought out our better angels..Come to think of it, I'm not sure there has been one in my thirty years of voting!

[jackson1015]

I think Seitzman must have read my mind. I'm someone who felt that Obama was too polite and needed to be "tougher" on McCain. But last night as I was watching him I thought: "I wish I could be like him." To keep your cool and remain civil in the face of so much arrogance and disrespect...that's not easy. During the second debate I found myself muttering at the TV set: "Your mama never heard of Fannie Mae! Your mama is That One!!"

Thankfully, Obama is more mature.

So Mr Seitzman, thank you for your great essay. I've been quoting excerpts of it to friends and co-workers all day.

[MossyOak]

I'm climbing on the band wagon, Michael. Excellent post.

[6olddogs]

It's been 48 years since I was last inspired by a politician/statesman who said "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." Today I must ask our country - our leaders - to do something for me, for all of us - to undo the many wrongs done by those in power and bring this nation back to the ideals espoused by the founders. In turn I will commit to doing my part - to being an engaged citizen, a caring neighbor and to living according to the creed "whatsoever you do unto the least of these, so shall you do unto me".

[maumeeone]

I can barely take four minutes of John McCain, so heaven forbid four entire years! But since I couldn't watch George W Bush at all, he certainly wouldn't change my viewing habits. How sad is it that watching our president is the equivalent of fingernails on a blackboard!? Thank God for cable!