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. McCain had come into the debate having spent the week as the King of the Loose Screws, but he got through the night without a sign of his irrational behavior, and that seemed like a big win for him.
I was, by the way, the least pessimistic person in the room where we watched the debate, a room full of blue-state pinkos, and our hearts had collectively sunk as we watched Obama miss opportunity after opportunity to score a knockout punch -- as the men in the room tended to put it. (Women are at a decided disadvantage in conversations of this sort: we have no interest whatsoever in the resemblance of presidential candidates to people like Rocky Marciano and Archie Moore.) Because everyone in the room was so depressed and simultaneously full of manly boxing references, I felt guilty even mentioning my concerns about Obama's shirt, which was too loose around his neck, and which was another reason why I thought he had lost the debate -- that, along with his incredibly irritating habit of closing his eyes while standing up.
Anyway, as I say, the impression that McCain had won lasted about a minute, when we began flipping through the stations expecting all our fears to be validated by the dozens of commentators ready to offer their views. To our amazement, the only overlap between our room and the pundits were the boxing references. Obama had won. Even the people who thought McCain had won more rounds than Obama thought Obama had won. McCain had been patronizing. He'd referred to Pakistan as a failed state, which turned out to be untrue. Even Charles Krauthammer thought Obama had done fine. A focus group of undecided voters in Nevada on the Fox Channel (Fox!) had responded more positively to Obama than to McCain.
Could this possibly be true? I don't know. But I decided to do the only thing I could under the circumstances: stop watching the pundits on television for fear it would all change again. They will be on all night discussing the heavyweight championship of the world, but I am going to sleep.
There were times in which I questioned why he didn't throw the truth back in McCain's face.
Particularly when John McCain brought up how much he loves Veterans and how they know that he will take care of them. It made me sick. I thought, Obama knows McCain's horrible record on supporting veterans, why isn't he hitting him with that? He could squash him like a bug. In reality, that would have turned off those undecided and Independant voters. It is Obama's ardent supporters who would love to see McCain ripped apart for his lies, but not those swing voters, and it is those voters that he needs to win.
As much as we would like to see some fists fly, his instincts have been right much of the time and he has stayed true to who he is. We should trust that he and his team know what they are doing. They see the war not just the battle and if we let them play out their strategy and trust them WE will most likely win the war.
On the bail-out, they both were weak. As the debate addressed the economy in general, Obama was stronger.....On Iraq, Georgia and Iran McCain seemed more decisive and assured in his positions so regardless of whether you agree with him or not, he came across stronger.
The pundits are the pundits, they over rated Obama's performances in the primary debates as well.
You noticed O's shirt but not JMc snorting (2x) like he was hyperventilating from barely contained anger and contempt.
How could you not hear O's command of knowledge about world affairs or how well he articulated what needs to be done at home? How could you miss JMc regurgitated stump messages on critical issues?
Obama came across as confident, well-spoken, thoughtful and informed. McCain came across as an unconvincing fearmonger. Score a win for Obama!
In our case, expectation going in made all the difference.
Anyone who has lost a loved one looks for a greater meaning to explain it, be it their "God's will" or some other greater purpose. The war in Iraq was unnecessary. It was a flawed strategy. The Bush administration offered many and various rationales for going to war and continuing to wage it (WMD, Iraqi freedom, "War on Terror" etc.)
It is unfortunate in the extreme that our service people lost their lives or were grievously injured in the line of duty. They served our Nation and each other with honor. That honor cannot be taken away based upon the ultimate outcome of the war. It is a mistake though to think that their sacrifice justifies the continued sacrifice of others for a war without justification.
McCain misunderstands the concept of honor. Those who answered our Nation's call, whether or not they were killed in action, by definition were honorable, regardless of victory, draw, or defeat. McCain's comments about the Vietnam War are telling, by associating defeat with dishonor.
His constant invocation and self attribution of the word honor with his own actions lead me to believe McCain's experience during and post Vietnam War has warped his perspective. The war he served in was unpopular, and ultimately unsuccessful. Perhaps because of his tremendous personal sacrifice as a POW, that tarnishes his sense of honor in his mind and tries to make up for it by doing things he sees are honorable (which is seems to be from his perspective just about anything he does.)
Refer to his own words about the Iraq War, ". . . we won't come home in defeat and dishonor. . .". It seems to me he qualifies honor with military victory. Did the Marines in Lebanon die without honor? Or the soldiers in Somalia?
How about when he muttered "horseshit" under his breath, TWICE. Look for it in the section where Obama questions McCain's recent behavior to the president of Spain.
McCain was surprisingly lucid and came off much better than I expected. Still a sorry display but not to his usual low standard....
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What was interesting about McCain is not just that he was wrong, but that he was so dismissive of Obama for being right. One of the little things that made it Obama's night. I agree, for junkies who've followed this for months, Obama did miss a lot of punches. But for those just becoming engaged, he did fine - and McCain did okay, but he did have his curmudgeon moments.
I love that McCain's spinmeisters pointed to Obama's saying John's right, or I agree with John, as signs of Obama's weakness. This from the ones who say they'll reach across the aisle to find agreement.
I agree completely! I have been speaking and writing about this very point. McCain is an elderly man who was in the military and was a POW. He goes in with an advantage right there, Obama is instinctively a very polite man. You can almost hear a voice from his childhood telling him to have respect for his elders and for women . He has taken the high road with McCain as he did with Hillary and he is the man we want to represent us at home and in the world.