This one isn’t one for me to call. My bias is too great. To me, John McCain seemed condescending, perseverative, and generally self-righteous. He reminded me of old men who have become "know-it-alls" in their dotitude. While he kept saying, "What Senator Obama doesn’t seem to understand…" but with each repeating, McCain was defending policies of the Bush Administration that have been disasters. He kept talking about Iraq in terms of winning and honor, as if that was the point of the war. What Mr. McCain doesn’t understand is that there is no honor in what we’ve done in Iraq, no matter how he jury-rigs the outcome. There is no honor in the last eight years of the Bush Administration, or in the times McCain has supported it [90%]. What he did as a young man might well have been honorable, but not what he’s done as part of the Republican machine that’s run this country for the last eight years [longer if you count the Republican Congress from 1984 until 2006].
I have no idea how this debate would’ve looked to a truly undecided person. Would they see McCain as forceful or as I saw him? I just wanted it to be over so I didn’t have to listen to his holier-than-thou, paternalistic attitude for one more minute. He reminded me of the kind of old man I hope I’ve avoided becoming – a self-important
curmudgeon…
I was really proud of the way that Obama handled himself. I liked that he addressed McCain directly rather than always talking about him as if he wasn’t there. McCain didn’t do that at all. His speech was like he was in a vacuum without Obama right next to him and like the middle class wasn’t watching. It was weird.
Equally, I thought Obama was polite. Perhaps that doesn’t count a lot in American politics, but on the world stage politeness still counts. I liked that Obama was the first to offer to shake hands and the first at the end of the debate to thank Jim Lehrer. I felt that while it was a subtle thing it was important.