Obama-McCain II (Impressions & Outtakes)

First, I must say that this second of the three 2008 Presidential Debates between Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain was one of the most boring political events that I have witnessed in quite a while. I think much of this was due to the debate being a town hall format. However, Obama still won the debate, showing he can not only flourish in multiple arenas--I mean come on, he DID graduate from Harvard, didn't he? I don't think too much could impress or intimidate him--but he can also more than hold his own against John McCain in an area that is supposed to be McCain's strongest suit, the townhall. To sum up, Obama won, but I didn't learn anything new from this 2nd debate that I didn't already know from the first debate.

OUTTAKES & IMPRESSIONS:

Did anyone besides me and Paul Reiser notice the size of the townhall? Tom Brokaw announced 80 uncommitted voters in attendance at the debate. Certainly with that much advance notice and with the debate being held on a college campus, I assumed that there would have been at least 300 or more people there, independent/uncommitted or otherwise.

The major reaction groups (surveying partisan and independent viewers of the debate) say that Obama won the debate hands down (NBC: 60-40, SurveyUSA: 54-29, Fox News: 61-39% as of 12:45pm 10-8/08, CNN: 54-30, CBS: 40-26).

For the second debate in a row, John McCain didn't once mention the middle class.

McCain still has a problem with Obama. At least he looked at him at times during the debate but this time, but he had a hard time hiding his disdain by referring to Obama as "that one" while not looking at Obama. Personally, if anyone referred to me as "that one" during a mutual dialog, that matter would have been redressed very pointedly because it shows a profound lack of professionalism and disrespect.

McCain used the term, "my friends" 19 times during the debate. Meanwhile, Obama's recurring conversation centered around the topics of economic issues, the middle class, health care, change, energy, and foreign policy. At least McCain didn't once mention, "Maverick." Boy that term is so played out at this point that it actually has a negative connotation to the voters. Huffington Post has a nice rundown of each debater's word frequency.

My favorite newsrag, the NY Times has the best and most interactive post-debate experience. Check out their interactive debate page for the full transcript and video footage of last night's Second Presidential Debate of 2008.

QUOTABLES

The best lines of the debate belonged to Obama. "Senator McCain, in the last debate and again today suggested that I don't understand. It's true. There are some things I don't understand. I don't understand how we ended up invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11."

"I've got to correct a little bit of Sen. McCain's history, not surprisingly. ... In fact, Sen. McCain's campaign chairman's firm was a lobbyist on behalf of Fannie Mae, not me."

The funniest line of the debate, without a doubt belongs to McCain who said that figuring out which tax policy Obama was in favor of was like "nailing Jell-O to a wall."

For the nth time, McCain told us that he knows how to "win wars" and "capture bin Laden". Somehow, though he hasn't shared any of this knowledge through 5 years of war in Iraq. How selfish.

AND TAKE THAT...

So much for the "Straight Talk Express". Obama hit McCain on his truthfulness by stating, "You know, Sen. McCain, I think the Straight Talk Express lost a wheel on that one."