If you recorded the Presidential debate and haven't erased it, try watching for 5 or 10 minutes with the sound off and you'll have few doubts that Barack Obama will be the next President. This is particularly true if you recorded CNN, which split the screen for most of the debate so you can see the reactions of one candidate when the other candidate is speaking.
John McCain's face never stops moving. He twitches, blinks incessantly, grimaces, glares, and puts on a fake grin that's truly creepy. He seems to have two modes: In one, he looks like an unruly high school student who's been told to sit in the corner and be quiet. In another, he looks like a frighteningly angry old man, as though he's struggling against his own impulse to leap across the table and punch out Senator Obama. He runs the gamut from rebellious teenager to grumpy old man without ever pausing at the stage of mature adult.
Barack Obama, in contrast, is still and calm. He appears to be listening intently, occasionally nodding, a few times shaking his head when McCain attacks him, other times breaking into a knowing grin. The younger man is the one who appears to be the mature grown up whom you can count on.
Television is a close-up medium and can sometimes be a devastatingly accurate portrayer of character and personality. With the sound off, McCain appears nervous and erratic and shows a barely concealed rage. Obama appears focused, thoughtful, and steady. That pretty well sums up the differences between them in real life.
When Kennedy and Nixon debated, it was reported that radio listeners thought Nixon won and TV viewers thought Kennedy won. TV is no friendlier to McCain than it was to Nixon.
Obama comes off as the cool and collected one whom you want answering the phone at 3 AM, whether the call is about a financial meltdown or an international crisis.
On May 6th, just 5 weeks before his death, Tim Russert watched the results of the North Carolina and Indiana primaries come in and declared, "We now know who the Democratic nominee's going to be [Barack Obama] and no one's going to dispute it." If he were still alive and watched the third Presidential debate, particularly with the sound off, I think he would say, "We now know who the next President of the United States is going to be and no one's going to dispute it--Barack Obama."
UPDATE: I don't mean to imply that the liklihood of an Obama victory should make Obama supporters complacent. While unlikely, there's always the chance of an "October surprise". Republicans will do all they can to suppress the vote in Democratic areas. Moreover, it's important that Obama not only win, but win big, and that he bring a close-to fillibuster-proof Senate on his coattails so that he has a mandate to enact significant change. So don't let up until the last vote is counted--contribute, volunteer, canvass, make phone calls, visit your grandparents who might still be scared of Obama.
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