Obama Mccain Debate Tennessee

If the question of the first debate was whether Obama would pass the threshold on national security (he did), the reality of this debate is that McCain didn't pass the threshold on the economy.

This was supposed to be the "domestic policy" debate. Yet there we were once again talking about raids on Pakistan and defending Israel. Brokaw and the organizers let down the American public.

It was clear tonight that Barack Obama has a far superior understanding of the moving parts of government and American society than John McCain ever had.

Tom Brokaw put the question to each candidate, "Is health care in America a privilege, a right, or a responsibility?" I'm not sure what McCain meant ...

Obama missed an opportunity to explain that the health of our nation's citizens cannot be held hostage to a corporate profit motive.

In their first debate, John McCain's constant refrain was that Barack Obama "didn't understand." Tonight, Obama grabbed that phrase and ran with it i...

Tonight was not a debate. What we saw instead was Obama presenting coherent answers to difficult questions, while his opponent perpetuated old lies, often unrelated to the subject at hand.

While McCain attacked most of the night -- in spite of the intimate, town hall setting -- Obama stuck to a crisper, measured tone, and still returned fire when necessary,

Arianna Huffington: The Winner of Debate II? "That One": In Debate II, John McCain twice laid out the criteria for how the American people should jud...

If this was McCain's night to change the conversation, he changed nothing, looking more tired and less competent than the last debate. Obama seemed more confident and relaxed than last time out.

On the CNN reaction meter, McCain never reaches Obama's highs, because even when people reluctantly agree with him, they have to factor in the fact that they just don't believe anything he says.

McCain said Ukraine was "in Russia's sights" and repeated his oft-repeated line that when he sees Putin he sees the letters "K.G.B." This is a good line if you are pundit, not if you are a president.

McCain seems to think his strong support of nuclear power is a big political winner for him. But every time he talks about nuclear, he flatlines with both men and women.