McCain is in the Bush league when compared to Obama. That’s what happens when you pit an 894th graduate out of 899 in the Naval Academy against a magna cum laude graduate from Harvard School of Law. It shows in spades.

If anything, Obama’s main mistake was his congeniality: he doesn’t have a “killer” instinct. The Republicans would have you think that Obama “kowtowed” to McCain by using the phrase “you’re right” in various forms. But that was simply a gentlemanly debating tactic, a parliamentary debating style of beginning a sentence by ostensibly agreeing with your opponent and then spelling out where one differs. “You’re right, BUT…” instead of being outright disagreeable and combative, which McCain actually was. Obama’s style has the added advantage of presenting an ability to be conciliatory, a trait which is much needed in today’s climate of impending crises of immense magnitude.

The feeling I got was that Obama had plenty of ammo left, but he didn’t press the issue and being the gentleman, he let it go, whereas McCain seemed to expend all his ammo and was spent at the end, and to no avail, Obama was not only still standing tall, literally and figuratively, but definitely presidential. Obama always had reasoned responses to McCain’s attacks, whereas McCain could only simply state his stump lines in response to Obama’s attacks. In that respect, McCain is Sarah Palin to Obama’s Katie Couric.

On the other hand, among many mistakes, misrepresentations, and miscues, McCain made two clear blunders. He clearly demonstrated he doesn’t understand the difference between “tactic” and “strategy” when he leveled that very same charge against Obama by describing the “surge” in the Iraq War as a “strategy”. The Iraq War was part of Bush’s overall strategy in the war against the terrorists and the increase in troops, or “surge”, in Iraq was a “tactic” once the original military strategy of invading Iraq was executed. Simply put, a “tactic” is a move or method, whereas a “strategy” is a broad plan or vision. And the old, war hero couldn’t tell the difference?

Another glaring miscue was his labeling of Pakistan as a “failed state”, yet at the same time stating the fact that the US has given $10 billion to it. I’m sure the American people and Congress would be very interested to know why we would give $10 billion to a “failed state” such as Pakistan. We don’t give half that to Israel.

On top of that, McCain had disjointed, unconnected rejoinders to questions he clearly wanted to avoid answering, such as adding a plea to veterans to invoke their sympathy and support. He probably lost on that vain attempt for their votes too.

And McCain’s the military and foreign policy expert? Dare I say it, for all his experience, McCain’s dumber than Bush! I shudder to think how he would be as president, seeing what has happened these last 8 years, scary, scary thought.

Magna Cum Laude and 4 bucks will get you the same cup of coffee at Starbucks that McCain gets....so Obama studied harder than his contemporaries. Perhaps his peer group were a pack of relative dolts....and he was the brightest of the bunch....just tossing that out there. He Magna cum laude'd his ass into a barbecue and street party organizer gig....awesome use of his talents. We should all be impressed, very Presidential indeed if we were needing a party organizer.

He failed to fight when challenged because he was a gentleman?....please, then why debate if he isn't willing to do battle? We just got a glimpse of Obama on the floor of the Senate....being treated like a freshman bitch, and he sullenly accepted his place in the pecking order. I saw a frustrated man in Obama dominated by his opponent who simply controlled where the topics went. McCain didn't have to be worldly, he just had to control what Obama talked about. He kept Obama off balance, and all Obama could do was maintain composure. You really think a foreign leader will be any more considerate of what Obama wants to talk about? What Obama knows in foreign policy will be a waste when he can't talk about it with foreign leaders unless he's the only one standing at the podium in the White House. Other than that....he's going to get bullied worse than McCain's simple hounding.

Who won the debate?...who cares. McCain drove the discussion...Obama was only able to react. Please don't put him in front of Ahmadinejad.

Harvard has produced a President, and the Naval Academy has produced a President. Rutherford B Hayes, a Republican was from Harvard....and Jimmy Carter, a Democrat from the USNA.

Let me spell it out for you: McCain is stupid, Obama is not. We had a dumb president the last 8 years; using your logic, it's ok to have a dumber president, you really want to risk and see what that will wrought, knowing what the last 8 years have wrought? You're as dumb as McCain if you answer in the affirmative. Clever comebacks do not make a reason for voting for dumb and then dumber. And that's only my gentlemanly way of ALLOWING you to be clever...

It's more than being intelligent. It's about being reasoned. And thoughtful. And measured. And NUANCED. Yes, NUANCED IS GOOD. IT'S NEEDED. In today's world where not everything is in black and white. McCain is simply a simplistic old dolt who's trying to appear DECISIVE. So all his responses and answers appear "direct" and "authentic". WHAT FUCKING BULLFUCKINGSHIT. You know and I know and the intelligent people who can stand to be honest KNOW his whole ballgame is BULLFUCKINGBULLSHIT. He is a fella who got by and parlayed his connections and then his "prisoner-of-war" episode into where he's at today. JUST LIKE BUSH. A POST TURTLE. Google "Post turtle", I'm gonna give you credit that you already know about that.

If McSame has suspended his campaign... : Can we just vote now ? There is currently only one candidate running. McCain suspended and has not (to my knowledge) re-opened his campaign officialy. So, lets vote. Either Obama or write in "Tony Blair".

My accesment is very similar... Obama didn't overdo the points and McSame looked like he was dancing or on the ropes. First round was a win for Obama and I am not sure if McCain can answer the bell in the third... his tag-team helper will go down in the second sooo bad. Oops, "Go Down" might not be an acceptable term there. She will lose.

Are you serious and have a brain ? Or do you listen to Rush ? Obama compared to McSame ? Palin compared to my dog ? My dog and Obama would win. Put Biden in the group and McCain and the pupeteers who control him should pack up and go back to the rock they live under.

Get serious, would you let Sara Palin and another McBush run your life ? I would not vote for them if they were the only team running. The republican party threw out some losers who would never be or do anything because they know there is no chance to win with any candidate. They have screwed America for 8 years and lied to everyone... they know there will all be more problems surface in the next few years... so they gave a sacrificial lamb who they don't care about for this term. Maybe they can mend enough to try again next time, but this time is a give away. McCain and Palin are jokes that the republicans are using to distract us, (like smoke and mirors) away from the total idiots in the White House now.

Magna Cum Laude and 4 bucks will get you the same cup of coffee at Starbucks that McCain gets....

####### True enough Rubma, bit it will give you a good shot at being hired as the CEO of Starbucks while the bottom of the class and military history of failures would get you a job working the counter.

so Obama studied harder than his contemporaries. Perhaps his peer group were a pack of relative dolts....

###### Fair enough Rubma, but frankly we are talking about Harvard vs the naval academy. Harvard lets in rich boys who dont belong (like Bush) yet for a middle class guy like Obama to even get into the college he needed to get invited via scholarship application....McSame got into the academy because daddy was a legacy (same idea as Bush). No matter how we slice the privledge card, both Bush and McCain got into their respective colleges via family connections while Obama had to literally earn the right to even be in the school-dolts not withstanding.

and he was the brightest of the bunch....just tossing that out there.

####### Well yes, not only did he fight and get into a highly restrictive school Rubma, he graduated at the top of the class-he beat out the dolts and the other competitive smart guys too. He is a winner Rubma.

He Magna cum laude'd his ass into a barbecue and street party organizer gig....awesome use of his talents.

###### Interesting you should point that out Rubma. He could have easily taken his degree and got into any high paying law firm-instead he took his degree and he went to the wrong side of the tracks in Chicago to see if he could make major changes in the most poor and crime ridden part of a major city-he didnt chase the money-he took on a challenge-and one which hardly would make him rich. Do you know what a community organizer does chief? Hint--unlike a military job you go in with no tools, no support, and no contacts--you actually need to develop these things from nothing. Any idiot can shoot a weapon Rubma-some can even do it without getting shot down or taking out a bunch of others with a series of "accidents". A community organizer tries to get a disorganized and failing community to pull together to make its reality change from hopeless mess to empowerd success--and does it without benefit of easy answers like killing the other guy with superior firepower.

We should all be impressed, very Presidential indeed if we were needing a party organizer.

##### Not a party organizer Rubma-in this case a national organizer. Someone who can take a weak and failing economy stuck in the mud of a pointless war and get it back on its feet. And had I said "a sailor" with such disrespect I think we both know where that would put me in your eyes--you show no respect for the service Obama chose which was as challenging as dropping bombs-moreso really. Can you at least acknowledge that there are other ways to serve ones country? Even the military has doctors, lawyers, etc...only the uniform differs Rubma.

He failed to fight when challenged because he was a gentleman?....

##### Failed to fight? He agreed with McCain on some issues--demonstrating both respect for McCains opinions on some topics and his willingness to work with both sides of the aisle. McCain says it like it makes him different while Obama did it right in front of you.

please, then why debate if he isn't willing to do battle? We just got a glimpse of Obama on the floor of the Senate....being treated like a freshman bitch, and he sullenly accepted his place in the pecking order.

##### So if you dont get mad and act like a moron you're not a good leader? Man I am sooo glad you would put McCain on point.....no wonder the moron got captured. He is as reflexive as spring-hardly an opponent in chess--he would fall into any trap you put out there with simple bait....like the way Bush invaded Iraq.....

I saw a frustrated man in Obama dominated by his opponent who simply controlled where the topics went.

###### I saw a deer in the headlights who could only speak intelligently about military issues and only had military ancedotes. If we were hiring a low ranking officer I might have hired him-but we're looking for a president.

McCain didn't have to be worldly, he just had to control what Obama talked about. He kept Obama off balance, and all Obama could do was maintain composure.

###### We were watching the same debate right? McCain couldnt say much-especially about the financial mess. When Obama was talking strategies McCain wanted a blue ribbon commission to study the mess-and would put the very same people on it who caused the mess.....what a "brilliant" idea. More of the same.

You really think a foreign leader will be any more considerate of what Obama wants to talk about?

####### Yes. They know McCain will threaten them with war-all the moron knows. More Bush tactics. If our goal is a war-McCain is the man. If our goal is peace and prosperity its Obama.

What Obama knows in foreign policy will be a waste when he can't talk about it with foreign leaders unless he's the only one standing at the podium in the White House. Other than that....he's going to get bullied worse than McCain's simple hounding.

###### Foreign leaders dont debat Rubma. They negotiate. This isnt the playground and it isnt the battlefield--its the arena of global politics. Everyone has their agenda and to make peace you find common ground and work from there. McCain is more of the same-and he all but announced it--more about threats and use of military force--how many more need to die for nothing Rubma?

Who won the debate?...who cares. McCain drove the discussion...Obama was only able to react. Please don't put him in front of Ahmadinejad.

##### So what would McCain do with Iran? "do what we say or we'll send Americans to die in Iran too!" Thats what I call progress......

Harvard has produced a President, and the Naval Academy has produced a President. Rutherford B Hayes, a Republican was from Harvard....and Jimmy Carter, a Democrat from the USNA.

##### You forgot George W Bush...,the worst president in history hands down....from Haaaarvard. A legacy from Haaaaarvard too.

So there we have it....your 1st Grade evaluation....McCain is a big dumb dodo-head. Obama is neato-keen.

Did you really need so much space to declare your astute observations? If we were voting for the next captain of the playground, Obama would win over Mrs. Smith's first grade class easily. Not looking for a nice guy that can organize a wally-ball beat down, looking for a President.

I'm not with you on this one....I'm sure being a community organizer is not easy, but it hardly qualifies one for the office of the President. And yes, as you point out....I forgot to mention Bush as a graduate of Harvard, a legacy of Harvard as you indicated, are you sure you want another legacy of Harvard? Hayes and Bush, both elected to President in the most controversial elections of all time....

And please don't lecture me on public service. It is something I certainly agree that all citizens should do and I do respect it, I just don't find what Obama did for his community as any more a qualifier for the Presidency than what I do. And what I do is strategic in all senses of the word.

Oh yeah...."negotiate". Works like a champ for the "gentlemanly" guy that fails to talk about what he wants to talk about. Ineffective at best....do you really think the Chavez's and Ahmadinjad's are going to be as accomodating as McCain?

I believe that you draw more flies with honey than vinigar.

Joe Kennedy has been working a sweetheart deal with Hugo Chavez for several years now getting low cost heating oil for the poor in the northeastern USA. You are of course free to turn it down for political reasons, but few do-most need the oil and dont have the money to buy it from the uber wealthy oil companies who dont help their own nation. For some reason Chavez was happy to work a deal with Kennedy.....so much for the evil Chavez who has in fact changed Venezuela from a 20's style gangsterland into a place where literacy is MANDATED for all and the wealth of the nations oil resources is shared among all. Is it perfect? Of course not. But it sure is no worse than a nation where over 20 million go without health insurance for want of the dollars and where a guy can own six homes and tell people struggling to keep one home that he knows whats best for them.

Iran is also seeing great increases in the number of educated people. But also as Obama points out the moron McCain, Iran is not really run by the DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED president but rather first by the Imams. Any deal worked with the president of Iran must pass through them....a fact not lost on Obama. While McCain holds a gun to the guys head demanding compliance or death, Obama would say "what would it take to steer you away from nukes and to lay off Israel and he would get some kind of answer....some kind of honest assessment from the president of Iran as to what it would take to alter his course......McCain would be demading a relativey powerless person make a decision he cannot make alone.....what a suprise McCain has repeatedly crashed his planes....one option is a very limited way to fly a complicated machine-of course McCain always had an ejection seat didnt he?

There is a difference between Harvard B school and Harvard Law. Harvard B school is primarily a talky talk, case study based school and is not considered as good as the likes of Wharton. Its very good, but GWB also didn't graduate "Cum Laude". Nor did he become the editor of the Harvard Business Review

Harvard Law is one of the top 3 in the nation and Obama ALSO was editor in chief of Harvard Law Review.

Note that military service isn't any more a qualifier for POTUS than other roles. There is a sacrilization of military service that is a serious threat to our democracy. Not only is our modern military far more similar to a mercenary force (just look at the recruiting tactics that harp on what the enlistee gets out of it), but the whole notion of relying on Military force to solve our problems is exactly what makes the mess in the ME worse.

Since when have Chavez and Ahmadinijad been reall strategic threats to the USA? They are petty regional thugs. And in fact by focussing on Chavez, you do more to empower him than by simply treating him no different than De Silva, Kirchner or Delgado.

Consider this. We refused to "talk" with Ho Chi Mihn. Why? because he was part of the then axis of evil. And 40 years after McCain and tens of thousands lost their lives because the USA "had to be strong" - Vietnam is desparately struggling to avoid the incursion of... Starbucks.

Mercedez Benz, Armani Suits and Gap Jeans did more to bring down the USSR than all of the military efforts combined. Doesn't mean we should not have a military, but a foreign polic that LEADS with the military - which very clearly is McCain's approach - is one that is more of a threat to the USA than anything that Ahmadinijad could dream up in his most creative moments.

People like Rubma need to believe that everyone is a threat. The idea that the USA should merely defend herself and let other nations be independent and operate in their own interests scares the hell out of em.

If Israel believes Iran is a threat then Israel should act rather than expect the USA to be their muscle.

If Chavez is a threat because he is a communist, lets not forget the simple truth that he came to power via democracy and that in truth the USA did in fact try to kill him-he has every right to be distrustful of us. In addition, the people of Venezuela were once poor and uneducated with 10% of the population holding 95% of the wealth-now that is not the case. And this makes the man evil?

Actually, Rubma's comments are so careless with the facts that it is hard to know where to begin. Indeed, I'm not sure it's worth responding, since the wrongness of most of his scattershoot comments (note, for instance, that GWB was a Yale legacy, not a Harvard one) tends to mask the irrelevance of what perhaps may be his central point, some sort of comment on the competence of the two candidates. Let us consider the foreign policy role of the President, say, when Russia invades Georgia (and assuming that it isn't, as the most recent charade was, precipitated by McCain leading the President of Georgia on about the intentions of the United States). And what their recent behavior and debate performances tell us about them. What reaction would you prefer: 1. Obama telling Medvedev that he led a coalition of states that were gravely concerned with this action,and Russia needed to commit to pull its troops out? This, by the way, was the role that Sarkozy, the President of France, had to play because our own government was incapable of performing it. Or perhaps incompetent to perform it. 2. Or McCain, pulling a stunt like the ones he's been running lately -- remember, he's a gambling man -- and threatening to nuke Russia to the Stone Age? Remember, this is the guy who pretends he was a fighter pilot but also admits that he didn't make any effort to evade the missile that locked on to his -- what was it? fourth crashed plane? Which was apparently a small bomber. And one more point: would you really want Sarah Palin on that conversation, should McCain have severe health issues?

True, Chavez was elected democratically....and then the fun began. Do you really think he can be democratically ousted now? He used democracy to gain admission, and that is about where Venezuela's experience with democracy ends. And I'm sorry that I'm not trusting of Hugo's pimping of oil to the poor of our own country as much as you seem to admire that act. I'm sure his motives were nothing more than samaritan.

As for Iran, regardless of the fact that the Imam's run the show, Ahmadinejad is the dickhead we have to talk to. And I doubt the current direction with Iran is going to change it's tool box any more than what is already in it. You know...discussions and sanctions, because apparently it doesn't matter what leader talks to Iran or how eloquently, Iran is dead set in it's path at this point. Iran has made it clear what it wants....it doesn't take tha all-wise Obama to ask him the same damn question we already know the answer to, Ahmadinejad has been clear on this. Obama has a plan to steal oxygen....and really nothing more than the current path.

As for crashes, yes...aviation is terribly unforgiving. Most of those I know that are dead are aviation casualties. A few pilots I do and have flown with have crashed aircraft, does it make them shitty pilots or stupid? Is that what you are trying to suggest? Obama's low-risk life is better proof of what one is capable of in the face of ultimate adversity? What we do know is that McCain survived and endured severe hardship, and came out the other side successfully. It speaks loads about his character and focus...can being the President be as challenging as being a POW for several years? He sure did get the good deal by having an ejection seat though....didn't he, that pussy.

I don't need to believe anyone is a threat...but I damn sure don't assume it's a given that they are going to act in my best interests either.

Remember, we aren't the only ones concerned.... And letting Israel do what the hell it wants, and Iran do what it wants, and so on and so forth does and will affect us all....just as easily as our economy in a slump affects everybody else. Isolationism as a policy is of a bygone era....move on.

And there is no need to paint Chavez as some modern-day Robin Hood. Was there inequality in Venezuela....sure there was, not in denial about it. It seems to happen all over the globe though, and federal seizure of private property legally obtained isn't the solution most democracies are choosing. Are you suggesting that if I make more money than you, that you should get a portion of my pay to make up the difference? If things are so damned great in Venezuela....then what is keeping you in this shithole?