At a time when the entire Country is focused on politics, this debate was a highly watched broadcast. John McCain came off on the same level as Barack Obama, but finished much stronger and likely won the debate. I say "likely" because the media will no doubt tell the public that Obama did what he needed to do even if it was clear to the naked eye that he fell short.
What made this debate so devastating for Barack Obama was that most of the public, aside from the political junkies, have never seen Obama outside of a canned speech. They have never seen him when his teleprompter failed or when he cannot string two sentences together without adding an "UM" or an "AH." To give some credit to Obama, he was better off the cuff than he had been in the past. Evidently, he prepared well.
Tonight, Barack Obama went up against a veteran who knew what he was saying regarding foreign policy. John McCain looked like a leader, Barack Obama looked like a novice. To gauge whether or not the America people saw through the nonsense is difficult to tell.
John McCain's greatest strength on economic issues was discussing the power of the veto pen. He even made a bold proposal for a spending freeze. Obama was not so willing to take such a step. Instead, Obama was more concerned about universal pre-K rather than an economic collapse.
On Iran, Obama not only looked uniformed, but he looked dangerous. He essentially admitted to wanting to meet with Ahmadinejad without preconditions. Barack looked objectively absurd.
On Russia, John McCain demonstrated Obama's naivete. He said that we are not going to go into a new cold war, but we are going to support Georgia and Ukraine's movement into NATO. Obama is simply a waffler. John McCain even boasted about his international travel and experience in the region. He made Barack Obama look like a child.
In the end, Barack Obama talked about his Marxist Father. He claimed that America is like no other country on Earth where you could make it if you try. Surprisingly, his dad left America, and tried to establish a Communist regime in Kenya. Overall, Obama demonstrated that he is not ready to lead. Let us hope that the American people realize this fact.
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