Post-Debate Wrap-Up

Well, here's my verdict - Obama won. I think John McCain came off as a pissy, rambling, old guy who thinks that he knows better than that young whippersnapper Obama and everyone else in that room.

I thought Obama did great on foreign policy, especially in respect to Pakistan and how to deal with the Al Qaeda/Taliban problem in the troublesome border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was authoritative and very clear about his intentions. McCain accused Obama - and has been accusing him - of telegraphing his intention to invade Pakistan. Obama has never said he's going to invade Pakistan, and clears that up here: "I want to be very clear about what I said. Nobody called for the invasion of Pakistan. Senator McCain continues to repeat this. What I said was the same thing that the audience here today heard me say, which is, if Pakistan is unable or unwilling to huntdown bin Laden and take him out, then we should." That seems like a clear policy statement to me, and puts Al Qaeda on notice, but nowhere does it say "we're going to invade Pakistan."

McCain's response to this was curious to me as well: "I'll get Osama bin Laden, my friends. I'll get him. I know how to get him. I'll get him no matter what. And I know how to do it. But I'm not going to telegraph my punches, which is what Senator Obama did. And I'm going to act responsibly as I have acted responsibly throughout my military career and throughout my career in the United States Senate." Okay, Senator, if you know how to get him, why haven't you shared that with anyone else? If you know how to get him, why didn't you push to get him instead of letting it drop and cheerleading for us to get into Iraq? And as far as acting responsibly throughout your military career, have you forgotten about the multiple planes you stalled and crashed as Navy flier, or about how you handled yourself on the USS Forrestal after the terrible accident on its flight deck? And as far as acting responsibly throughout your military career, have you forgotten about your role as one of The Keating Five?

The senator from Arizona indicated that he knew a lot about a lot of things, like Social Security: "Social Security is not that tough. We know what the problemsare, my friends, and we know what the fixes are." And the economy: "And I know how to fix this economy and eliminate our dependence on foreign oil and stop sending $700 billion a year overseas."

I said it earlier, and I'll say it again - Senator McCain, if you know how to fix these things, why haven't you done anything about them?! Are you/were you waiting to be elected President? If so, how is that putting country before all else, like your presidential aspirations?

I'm disgusted. And if I were an undecided voter - which I'm clearly not - I would have landed squarely in the Obama camp tonight.

That's it - time for sleep.

-EB

p.s. Transcript quotes from C-Span debate hub: http://debatehub.c-span.org/ Great job on that website, guys!