Debate II

The stage was set. Nashville, TN. Red State. Town Meeting debate. Old man McCain was primed to work his maverick magic on young buck Barak Obama, and make up valuable ground in the race for the White House. So...what happened? Whiny jokes and awkward insults aren't going to cut it, Sen. McCain, I'm sorry. This was your shot! C'mon, game changer!
Supposedly, McCain is a master of Town Meeting body language, and really knows how to appeal to an audience. Like a puppeteer of the populace, he doesn't work a room, he let's the room work him. But in Nashville, he seemed old, stiff, and out of touch, like a confused patitent in a retirement home. He wandered around the stage during Obama's responses, often walking in front of the camera, and interrupted the Illinois senator with snide remarks which fell flat with live audience. To his credit, McCain did interact personally with the questioners from the outset, a tactic which Obama quickly picked up on. Yet overall, McCain's performance emphasized the generation gap, not only with Obama, but with some of America's most commited voters. The wierd grandfather personna he has developed was epitmoized with his referal to Obama as "that one."
For all McCain's shortcomings, Barak Obama was not stellar. He, like his running mate Joe Biden in his face-off with Sarah Palin, was adequate. He seemed knowledgeable and composed, and had a rather presidential demeanor. Most of all though, he just looked better than McCain.
-bwA