McCain-Obama II

Never let Tom Brokaw moderate a Town Hall Debate again. He was like a referee who wanted to put on gloves and throw punches. There were supposed to be 20 questions from the audience and the internet but then Brokaw decided to take over the proceedings halfway through and was rather anal retentive about time management. Where's Jim Lehrer when you need him?

The combatants, John McCain and Barack Obama, fought to a draw. But McCain needed a knockout or at the very minimum a decisive unanimous decision. So Obama won without winning.

For instance, Barack Obama said his spending cuts exceeded his spending increases. Where? I'd like to know. But McCain didn't ask. On top of that, McCain didn't ask Obama how he would pay for all his promises.

One question that was interesting toward the end of the debate was asked by a soldier about what the candidates would do if Israel were attacked by Iran. After McCain thanked the soldier for his service and shook his hand, he reminded the audience Obama wants to talk to Ahmadinejad "without preconditions." This is something Obama disputed in the first debate and Biden further denied last week. Except that on Obama's website it states an Obama Administration would negotiate with Iran and other rogue regimes "without preconditions." Guess what? This time Obama didn't challenge McCain's"without preconditions" assertion. Obama also viewed the escalation of Iran's nuclear programme as the fault of President Bush rather than a byproduct of their evil assertions that seeks the elimination of another country from the face of the earth. Good grief.

But most people have the economy on their minds and since the economic downturn the tide in the ocean has been rising for Obama and McCain, despite his best efforts, could not calm the waters.

McCain has one more bite at the apple on October 15th at Hofstra University. McCain can only hope there are people who haven't made up their minds or people who are still amenable to changing their minds.