Debate Talk

I'm late in mentioning this, but it seemed like it deserved a moment's coverage. We went to a debate watching party last night - thanks to our hosts Chris and Mary Jane for a nice evening. We had the events of the evening running from two different networks, but the Dear Wife and I were in the MSNBC room. For some reason, there was a time delay between the two channels, and MSNBC was a second or two ahead of the television in the other room, which proved somewhat distracting.

After sitting through the ninety-odd minutes, I hadn't really heard anything new from either candidate. I wanted Obama to give a better explanation of his US $923 million in earmarks which McCain purported, and I wanted him to hit back harder. It's important for Obama to stop agreeing with his opponent, even if he does, in fact, share the same position. It's also important for him to stop being so damn magnanimous. I don't think that people get that. McCain, for his part, proved that he was a contemptuous old goat through his body language, and appeared visibly angry on several occasions. He needs to stop that, because it makes him look like an immature, petulant child, which seems disproportionate for someone as old as he is.

Oh, and on a related topic (to the debates in general), am I alone in thinking that someone owes the estate of Sinclair Lewis in a really big way for all of the times that people have been tossing around the words Main Street? It makes me wonder of how many of them can possibly have read the book.

In the meantime, what am I really looking forward to? Yes, you guessed it: the Vice Presidential debate. I'm hoping not to have a replay of the Quayle - Bentsen debate in 1988, the one where Quayle looked foolish but Bush 41 still won. I feel reasonably confident that Joe Biden can mop the floor with Sarah Palin, but he has to do it very carefully, so as to let her hang herself with her own rope, rather than playing the executioner himself. A delicate challenge and one to which I hope he can rise.