McNasty vs. Cool Hand Obama

Damn! We really saw McNasty in the first debate. I think it is safe to say that neither Obama nor McCain like each other. McCain was downright condescending toward the black senator from Illinois, treating him with scorn and contempt. He dissed Obama at every turn, and, rather strangely, never once looked at him during the 90 minutes of the debate. I thought: Is he trying to negate his physical existence by his visual indifference? I saw it as odd and silly. There was something voodoo-ish about it. He was certainly all puffed up over his own importance, apparently thinking that the freshman senator was an upstart and needed to be knocked off his pedestal. Obama was a backbencher and had a lot of nerve to run for president against an old warhorse whose experience dwarfed the man from Chicago. McCain was not only tense; he dripped with superiority, superciliousness, arrogance, and aggressiveness. I found it rather repellent; and I shudder to think of a man of his temperament as our president.

However, it was intense and thoroughly interesting. Obama had his hands full but acquitted himself well, except for too many of those “Your right John…” McCain’s refrain, which was repeated over and over, was “Mr. Obama doesn’t understand that…”

The moderator could not direct the nature of McCain’s statements, as often they weren’t cogent or to the point. He simply gave a variation on his stump speech. When asked about the prospective Bailout package he started talking about cutting spending and earmarks. Obama brought him back to reality with a comment about earmarks added up to $18 billion this year while the Bailout was a $700 billion item, so lets put the importance in the right place. I thought Obama scored well in the discussion about Iraq and Afghanistan. General Petraeus said recently that he stays clear of the words win or victory when talking about the war in Iraq. McCain isn’t so inhibited or prone to be cautious; he did his usual genuflection at the altar of Victory, sounding like an ex-military man with a Vietnam hangover. And his statement about loving veterans was a lot of hooey. All you need do is check the record and you’ll see what a lot of bull that is. He also said that everyone knows that the government in Pakistan ten years ago was a “failed regime” which justified the coup that took place. He neglected to mention that the government was democratically elected. He played it loosey-goosey when it came to the facts, which is his style these days, unfortunately. In contrast, Obama stayed to the facts. He was also more relaxed and gracious throughout the debate.

I can’t wait to next Thursday night, when Palin and Biden hook horns. Should be quite a show. In fact, it could decide the election. I don’t know how many people have noticed that two journalists, Bob Herbert of the New York Times, and conservative op-ed writer, Kathleen Parker, whose syndicated column appears in the Arizona Star, have called for her to drop out of the race, due mostly to her poor showing in the interview with Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson.