It's Debatable......

Finally - the final debate! But this one was at least interesting. The format worked, staying seated kept John McCain from wandering around the stage, and the proximity demanded that the candidates look at each other at least occasionally. Bob Schieffer made the candidates address the questions. On the question of what to do about the economy, who knows? The "experts" don't. But there is a philosophical difference in approach between the conservative trickle down, free up the free market point of view and the bottom up, build the middle class, create jobs, care about the people thinking. Obama wins. As for the health care issue, there is no contest. In fact, analysis shows that the McCain plan would actually cost more, not pick up the uninsured, and could undermine employer based coverage due to taxing benefits. Obama wins. John McCain enjoyed ending as many responses as he could with "Senator Obama will raise your taxes". Apparently he thought only people making more than $250,000 were listening. That's the small percentage of voters who would have their tax cut rolled back, tax cuts that contributed immensely to our national debt. Obama wins. On the attacks launched by the campaigns, John McCain insisted in repeating the questions about Obama's association with Bill Ayers. But these questions have been asked and answered many times over. There is no "there" there. Pursuing it had McCain beating a dead horse. As to the charges about ACORN, when I heard the innuendos in the news this last week, I spent five minutes on line and got the full story. There is no fraud, no one will vote who isn't supposed to, and the only victim is ACORN itself. As an organization which strives to represent the under represented, they got ripped off by employees who got paid to register voters but turned in bogus forms instead of doing the work. If it took me five minutes to get this straight, why can't John McCain do the same? Or is it that knowing the truth would ruin a good attack line? This behavior on the part of McCain and his campaign is neither honest nor honorable. Obama wins. The pundits are now scoring the debate. They are discussing strategy. But is it really strategy or basic personality? Barack Obama doesn't have to act calm and deliberative. That's who he is. He believes fighting to be unproductive, not a means of problem solving. That is at the core of his being. John McCain is a warrior. He understands fighting as a means to a desired end, wrapped in his sense of honor. Anger is part of who he is, it shows, and is for him righteous. Emotion is his style. He interrupts, belittles, makes pointed "jokes", frankly seems erratic. Who wins a debate is debatable. Who wins the election hopefully will not be. Then the headline should be OBAMA WINS!