Thoughts about last nights debate
I went to bed thinking about the debate last night. Here’s what I thought:
(disclosure: i’m a democrat and voting for Obama)
1. At times Obama looked out of sorts and unsettled. He said the words “McCain is right” way too many times. His closing remarks seemed weak. He looked tired.
2. McCain on the other hand came out fighting. He was fast and loose with the facts but he delivered them with certainty and without skipping a beat. I bet if you read the transcript of the debate you would have sworn it was President Bush (except for the references to Maverick & Ms. Congeniality)
3. The debate in many ways reminded me of the Gore vs Bush debate. Everyone had high expectations for Gore and super low expectations for Bush. Since Bush held his own he scored big with the public. Even though I thought Obama did a better job, I think McCain exceeded some expectations.
4. I was surprised that Obama didn’t go after McCain on the Fanny/Freddie ties especially when McCain attacked him on earmarks. Obama’s response about $18B not being that much money was pretty bad.
5. Obama’s judgement is the issue here for me. Not his debating skills. Does he have the best judgement on issues like war, the economy, civil rights, education etc. I believe the answer is a resounding yes.
I haven’t read any of the expert opinions and I probably won’t. But I look forward to reading my friends blogs, comments, and tweets.
Oh, one more thing :)
Twitter was awesome last night. I had my laptop with me as we watched the debate and Twitter Election 2008. I learned a lot, laughed a lot and shook my head a lot at all of the various twitter updates. It was just fantastic.
