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Barack Obama needs to get a little spark of nastiness with John McCain. He stands there debating him as an equal while McCain treats him like a kid in the principal's office.
Obama has the intellect and the knowledge to slam him, to challenge him, to stir up some anger, but he isn't doing it. It didn't look smart to me, it looked tentative and cautious and McCain looked like a cranky old man who was being forced to spend time debating a young pup.
A kid in the principal's office needs to either stand up for himself or succumb to authority, Barack has to be chippy and obstinate and sparky and basically a smart ass. He needs to challenge authority and get McCain to lose his cool. He can't force the guy to treat him like an equal because McCain obviously doesn't consider him an equal. Barack Obama needs to take the maverick title away from McCain, he's the young upstart, not McCain.
The way that the kid can always win with the principal is to get him to lose his sense of adult superiority. Obama needs to do just that. McCain's no saint, he's got a 26 year record. Slam him with it over and over again. Connect him to Bush because he is connected. Connect him to ineptitude of Washington, because he is. Counter this Maverick crap, point out that it isn't always a good thing because as it is in this bailout crisis, it keeps him from even leading his own party! It's all there for the taking, COME ON!
I want to see some grit out of Obama, I want to see some fiery leadership in my President. I want some steel. I did not see that last night. I saw a few blips of it and then he'd slip into his grin at Lehrer to intervene with McCain instead of bulling his way into the conversation.
COME ON! Drop that hockey stick throw down the gloves, even slap on a little lipstick if that's what it takes but I wanted to see some fireworks. It was so BLAH!
For my part I saw a few things that McCain said which are interesting:
1. McCain wants to make sure that health care isn't nationalized. Well my friends, that's what's going to happen because as the population ages here and the Boomers move into cancer and heart attacks, the Insurance Industry is going to go bankrupt. We have a greedy system of health care that is racking up HUGE profits and raising their costs beyond all rationality. So what is the government going to do about it? I tell you, that is the next economic domino. It may not tumble for a while but it will unless someone gets some control over its ability to charge whatever it wants to.
2. He used the term "Miss Congeniality" twice in the debate – Is John McCain a cross-dressing, closet case like J. Edgar Hoover? Why wouldn't he use "Mr. Congeniality"? Weird old fart.
3. McCain never responded to Obama slamming "trickle down" economics. McCain never repudiated it as a failure so I have to assume he thinks it's working just fabulously.
4. McCain said, "We cannot have a failed start that nearly causes you to lose a conflict." What?
5. McCain also said, "That withdrawal is a result of every counter insurgency that succeeds."
6. McCain also said that Russia is a KGB apparatchik and that he does not want to go back to the cold war, and that in looking into Vladimir Putin's eyes, he saw three letters, K-G-B. And yet, he does not want to go back to the cold war with Russia? Sounds like he's already there.
7. John McCain told us that Obama's willingness to engage foreign leaders in dialogue is more than naive, that it's dangerous. He didn't explain what was better than doing that.
8. John McCain refused to speak directly to Obama. I thought that was interesting and directly condescending. He spoke to Jim Lehrer directly even when Lehrer told him to respond to Obama. It was as if McCain was saying, "No, let's us adults have a conversation here."
Now these are the new things that I saw in the debate. At the very beginning McCain said something about not shifting his position and I though Obama could have nailed him on shifting his position on the debate and he let it go. I thought Obama could have nailed him on his inability to build a coalition of republicans to pass the bailout while instead they are in full scale revolt to the Republican president's plan. Obama didn't work McCain over on the foreign policy failures of the republicans. He didn't hammer him on the low standing in the world of the US, although he did mention it. He let him off the hook about the failure of not talking and point to Richard Nixon's trip to China that helped bring about the changes in relations that are in place today. I thought Obama looked weak in relation to being in a debate format. I expected some fire and passion and I got logic and explaining and re-explaining and denials.
COME ON OBAMA! EAT SOME JALAPENOS OR SERRANOS OR HAVE A SHOT OF WHISKEY! or STEROIDS! DO SOMETHING! KICK THE TIRES AND LIGHT THE FIRES MAN!
On the lighter side, I had a sudden vision of Austin Powers last night when I saw McCain constantly cackling during Obama's answers.
Judge for yourself. (Hey, be kind, I only work in the "Paint" program, I can't afford the Photoshop!)
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