The First Debate

As I watched the debate I was not particularly blown away by either candidate. They each had their points they tried to drive home: for Obama it is that McCain is Bush, for McCain it is that Obama just doesn't understand how things work or the gravity of what we are up against. I'm sure that followers of both came away thinking their guy won, which is usually how these debates end. From my perspective I thought that Obama was perhaps too well rehearsed. We know his handlers have been working with him to stop the "hhhmmmm, uuhhhhh's" that fill up his non-scripted answers. To me he sounded much like how Sarah Palin sounds in her interviews . . overly handled by handlers and staff. For Obama though, he needs it. We've seen and heard what he is like when speaking off the cuff. And we saw it for a moment last night when Obama could not remember the name of the serviceman on his bracelet. I thought McCain could have been stronger all the way around, particularly on the first part concerning economics. He did not distance himself from Obama. He should have tied Obama with Bush in their approach to this bailout. McCain should have been more detailed in how we should get out of this mess. But he didn't. Sure it was good to drill Obama for his earmarks . . perhaps even detailing a few by name; but none of that really got to the core of this whole bailout. To me, that was the biggest disappointment of the evening: neither guy had much to offer on that front.