I voted neither because that's just how I always vote when it's an option and I actually believe it was really close, with a slight edge going to Obama because I thought he did a better job of answering the questions. Like priorities for example. I also felt he was talking to the people where as McCain was walking around all the time and I thought that was strange. Like he was kind of unease. When McCain called Obama "That One" was kind of touchy in my opinion. I know it wasn't meant in that way, but some will perceive that as a lack of respect.
They did a good job of differentiating themselves, so in that sense the american people won. More things that McCain does annoys me, but perhaps that's just indicative of how I plan to vote. I hate it when he says "my friends" all the time. He seemed to spend more time ripping down his opponent, more time teeing up pointless jingoisms, and less time explaining what he would actually do as president, so in that sense I think Obama came off better. But again, it all depends on whose position you agree with. For instance, the difference in provision of health care was pretty stark, and I'm pretty sure that they didn't change anyone's minds--they just did a good job laying the battle grounds. I also have no idea why McCain wants to be president. Obama, I think, does a good job explaining why he wants to be president. You can disagree with his vision, but he has a vision. I don't sense a vision with McCain. I get the feeling that he is running just because he was the best his party could do--not because he had a particular message or vision for the country that was anything different from the rest of his party.
It seemed to me that McCain lost his temperment after Obama said Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Iran. Obama won the Pakistan debate, and when the Republicans are losing the foreign policy debate, you know they are done. The polls say Obama won. SurveyUSA: Obama 56 McCain 26 CNN: Obama 54 McCain 30 CBS: Obama 39 McCain 27 MediaCurves: Obama 52 McCain 34 Eh, it's hard to see McCain making up the ground now. I believe the last debate is on the economy, and Obama has clearly won the Economics argument. I think it's just a question of how big of a win, than if he wins. It seems like there is a reverse Bradley Effect going on in the Virginia polling (which has Obama at a 7-12 point lead right now). Obama is underpolling with blacks. It seems like some blacks are thinking it is a funny joke to tell pollsters that they are supporting McCain. McCain stopped being a maverick, and became the dirtiest Republican ever, and as a result, he is going to get blown out. If you remember, during the primaries, Obama/Hillary blew out every Republican candidate in the head 2 heads except for McCain. Why? The rest were the typical Republicans, McCain was not. McCain is now a typical Republican...and perhaps seen as the most dirty Republican of them all, and that is why he is going to get smashed.
Boring as hell. I voted neither, but McCain's $300B proposal for REAL HELP FOR MAIN STREET was the real big news. Screw tax breaks and credits and all that. Cut my mortgage payment in half, thank you!
I just flipped on MSNBC after getting back from class. Obama is delivering one hell of a speech on the economy right now. "John McCain said the fundamentals of the economy are strong. I don't know about you, but where I come from, there is nothing more fundamental than having a job."
"Ronald Regan when he was running asked, are you better off than you were 4 years ago? At the pace we're going, you're going to have to ask yourselves if you are better off than you were 4 weeks ago."
Obama couldn't even answer half the questions. I like how he kept asking for a reply, and when one wasn't granted, he totally ignored the current question and just replied to the previous one anyway. How about the last question of the night? He didn't answer it in any way shape or form. Obama cannot give a short answer on anything. We saw it during the primaries when Edwards and Clinton called him out on it, and we're still seeing it in these debates. Obama is very uncomfortable with sound bytes, so essentially what he does is use so many words that by the time hes done answering you've forgotten what the original question was and don't really understand what he was trying to say anyway. McCain appeared uncomfortable walking around in circles while Obama seemed much more relaxed in that sense. However, I don't really care how comfortable someone is in a town hall debate so I still give McCain the edge. He answered every question as it was given by the moderator, instead of adjusting everything and ignoring questions in order to reply to a previous one.
