Debate-A-Thon

Well, I watched it. I am clearly not the target audience, here, since I am an Obama voter--a resigned Obama voter--a slightly cranky Obama voter--but an Obama voter nonetheless.

(Interesting note--at the school's Homecoming rally yesterday, a group of cheerleaders broke into a spontaneous chant I first identified as "HIL-LA-RY! HIL-LA-RY!". Staring in some surprise, I eventually reorganized it in my head as "KILL (the name of the school we are playing tomorrow)."

Points in Obama's favor:

-He clearly knows what he's talking about. Obama never goes into vague rants, he always provides good examples from the text, and he doesn't grandstand.

-He was polite. God, how we need politeness in American politics.

Points against:

-He really needs time on his side to get through these long, detailed ideas he wants to get across. I think snappy is on your side, even in a long format debate. Barack Obama will never be accused of going zero to sixty.

-Everyone is saying he shouldn't have said McCain was right so much, but honestly, when McCain's right, why not say so?

Points in McCain's favor:

-He's got snappy soundbite down, and seemed very 'on' throughout.

Points against:

-He was on slightly shrill attack ALL NIGHT LONG. They'd ask the question, Obama would answer with 'what I will do when I'm president', and McCain would then tear Obama apart. I'm sure I would have felt differently as a McCain supporter, but it felt as though he couldn't clarify his own vision, he just knew that Obama 'didn't get it'. This makes Obama the whole point.

-The ghost of George Bush sat sulking at his side all evening, making it hard to debate. George, last I heard, is alive and well, making this form of astral projection even more interesting.