Post Debate Thoughts

In a few minutes I am going to pick up a friend and drive to a local 5K run. I’ll run this race (or attempt to ) and see what happens. It is two laps through a zoo.

Last night’s debate McCain’s spin is hilarious:

Hmmm, admitting when your opponent is right is a bad thing? Well, to wingnuts: probably.

But during the debate, there were times when McCain declared “he just doesn’t understand…”

At that point I would have lost it and said something like: “I don’t understand? You, someone who doesn’t know the difference between Shiite and Sunni terrorist groups, someone who doesn’t know how the Iranian leadership is structured, someone who doesn’t know the situation on the ground in Iraq are in no position to lecture anyone about not understanding the basics”.

But instead Obama kept his cool, made his points and moved on.

Evidently, that came across very well.

Several positive reviews for Obama. A CBS News instant poll finds:

40% of uncommitted voters who watched the debate tonight thought Barack Obama was the winner. 22% thought John McCain won. 38% saw it as a draw.

68% of these voters think Obama would make the right decision
about the economy. 41% think McCain would.

49% of these voters think Obama would make the right decisions about Iraq. 55% think McCain would.

And even Time’s Mark Halperin weighs in with his grades: Obama A-, McCain B-.

Update: CNN’s poll has all Obama winning overall, on the economy and on Iraq:

Who Did the Best Job In the Debate?

Obama 51%
McCain 38%

Who Would Better Handle Economy?
Obama 58%
McCain 37%

Who Would Better Handle Iraq?
Obama 52%
McCain 47%

CNN’s conclusion:

OXFORD, Mississippi (CNN) — A national poll of people who watched the first presidential debate suggests that Barack Obama came out on top, but there was overwhelming agreement that both Obama and John McCain would be able to handle the job of president if elected.
Most debate watchers agreed both McCain and Obama would be able to handle the job of president if elected.

Most debate watchers agreed both McCain and Obama would be able to handle the job of president if elected.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey is not a measurement of the views of all Americans, since only people who watched the debate were questioned and the audience included more Democrats than Republicans.

Fifty-one percent of those polled thought Obama did the better job in Friday night’s debate, while 38 percent said John McCain did better.

Men were nearly evenly split between the two candidates, with 46 percent giving the win to McCain and 43 percent to Obama. But women voters tended to give Obama higher marks, with 59 percent calling him the night’s winner, while just 31 percent said McCain won.

“It can be reasonably concluded, especially after accounting for the slight Democratic bias in the survey, that we witnessed a tie in Mississippi tonight,” CNN Senior Political Researcher Alan Silverleib said. “But given the direction of the campaign over the last couple of weeks, a tie translates to a win for Obama.

Of course, McCain did well among his base, as did Obama:

Independents in the MediaCurves focus group “gave the debate to Obama 61-39. They also think he won every individual segment. Republicans gave the debate to McCain 90-10, Democrats to Obama 93-7.”

How do I see it: I saw it a bit differently: to me, McCain came across as not knowing what he was talking about whereas Obama came across as being in command of the facts and in command of himself. But most people who saw it that way were already pro-Obama.

This was sort of an Al Gore moment for McCain in that he appeared irritated, angry, inpatient and wouldn’t even look at Obama. His face revealed a great deal of contempt; sort of a “how dare you challenge me” sort of thing.

Frankly, that didn’t bother me. But evidently it bothered many others.

The difference between McCain and Gore though is that, while both men showed contempt for their opponent and it cost them, Gore is smart and McCain is a dunce.

In short, Obama won, but not in the way that I wish he would have won. That is why, when I exclaim “well, I would have said X, Y or Z and had done A, B, and C” my wife smiles at me and says “that is why Obama is up there and YOU are in front of the TV, watching him.”