Conclusiones de los analistas:

1. Por qué los dos candidatos repiten tanto los mismos argumentos?

2. El debate fue en 2/3 sobre economia, así que era difícil para McCain apuntar a otros temas más rentables para él

3. McCain y Obama "no se gustan". Pero parece que no lo quieran demostrar en los debates, y eso quita mucho interés al enfrentamiento. Demasiada cortesía preparada

4. Álex Castellanos, asesor republicano: "Otro empate, y los empates se los queda quien va ganando, es decir, Obama".

Y añado yo:

- Que son esos rectángulos negros que siempre hay en el fondo del decorado azul, en los tres debates que hemos visto? son para las cámaras, miran por él el equipo asesor de los candidatos? hay periodistas VIP?

- Obama tiene más facilidad para estar cómodo con una silla alta tipo bar

- McCain habla como un abuelo. Y no lo digo en tono despreciativo. Me refiero a que se acerca mucho a quién le hace la pregunta, habla suavemente, explica cosas del pasado, y parece condescendiente.

- Y lo más importante. Por su tranquilidad y su confianza cuando habla (y cuando escucha) parece que Obama ya se ve presidente. Y seguramente no se equivoca mucho.

(Es impresionante como CNN consigue atrapar al telespectador hablando de política. Con la puesta en escena, los comentarios inteligentes de los analistas, las miradas a cámara muy entrenadas... estan hablando de política, de forma seria, y son capaces de engancharte. Es un gusto!)

Well my assumption was that this was a tie, and that even while looked at without comparing it to the first debate, it was merely a narrow victory for Obama. Apparently the general electorate thought differently. Here are a list of the polls as of this morning.

MSNBC (Our liberal leaning friends)

McCain 13.1% (19,115 votes) / Obama 83.6% (122.445 votes) / Tie 1.6% (2,353 votes) / Not Sure 1.7% (2,527 votes)

CNN (Our fairly balanced friends)

McCain 17% (37,010 votes) / Obama 78% (171,231 votes) / No Clear Winner 5% (10,208)

Fox News (Our (mentally) unbalanced friends (who actually decided to have a poll this time!))

McCain 43% / Obama 57% (No vote breakdown provided, guess Murdock couldn't fit that into his budget.)

Well I think it's pretty obvious I'm the only one that thought it was a tie. I'm also guessing that everyone thought this was some sort of a huge victory for Obama? Am I really that out of touch? I thought I was Joe Six Pack! I am quite disappointed in myself, happy about the polls (any victory is great, I won't lie) but I feel as though my finger has slipped off the pulse of America. Oh well, off to work.

Hi!
How much do you charge for a reading? I like your answers and the way you handle the questions. I’m curious as to what kind of a president Obama would be? Other astrologers have predicted a serious occurrence at the time of the election and also around the swearing in ceremony-what’s your take on it?

Thanks for the kind words.

I can do private readings over the phone via paypal. For a 15/20 minute reading it's $90. I suggest doing this first so you don't have to spend much to try me out. I can set up a time to call you and we can do the paypal transaction at the beginning of the reading, of course this would not be counted in your reading time. 15/20 minutes is generally enough to cover all of what you really need to know. Of course if you have a bunch of questions and you need a lot of information about specific stocks, etc. It would take longer and you might want to go for a 30-40 minute reading for $180 or a 60-70 minutes for $360. This is at the middle range of how much psychic phone reading costs. Here's a link if anyone is interested in doing a price comparison research: http://www.keen.com/CommunityServer/UserBlogPosts/Lexy_Moon/Average-Price-Of-A-Psychic-Reading/358939.aspx

For those who are interested you can post and I will contact you via e-mail and we can set it up. In the case of missing children, criminal cases I would be happy to volunteer my time when I can. Or for those of you under extreme duress who really need guidance, I can do a yes/no spread and post it on the blog. Of course I'm always here for anyone wanting to ask a question in the comment section. But I won't answer it unless it pertains to something bigger than just a personal question unless of course the issue is of dire consequence.

In reference to the later part of the question I don't have the feeling, as I did in 2000 that the election will be thrown. Firstly, I don't believe there is strong enough support within the Republican party to put themselves on the line for McCain, and secondly this election will not be close enough to throw. In terms of something happening during the swearing in, I'll have to look at that. I think it's only common sense to say that Obama is going to have to double up on the secret service, as I'm sure there will be attempts on his life. All you have to do is read some of the crazy trash people write me! And I'm just a messenger. There are a lot of violent, gun totting racists out there. I do worry about him. But we'll deal with that when he wins.

And answering what kind of president Obama will be. I think he's going to have an up hill battle. It's going to be very hard for him, but he's going to turn this economic crisis around after a few years and we'll start to see things look up again. I think his calm demeanor and humanitarian personality will be a huge benefit to our country in our time of need, and  he will go down as an excellent president. But it will be rocky for him, there are going to be a lot of curve balls, not just with the economy, but with foreign affairs, which I'll get into in later posts once we get through this horrible crisis.

It's my feeling there really isn't a person who would be better for this challenge then Obama right here and now. I think just his positive energy and slogan of hope helps uplift us even now. If we had McCain running against someone equivalent to him there would be a lot more hopelessness than there is right now. Obama represents a lot of archetypal things; he represents the American dream which a lot of people had lost hope in. He represents the idea that anything is still possible in our country, and we can't discount how important this is to our psychology while we are facing perhaps the worst economic crisis in our history. If anything is possible, then we can get out of this, we can find a way. It is this belief in the human spirit, and American ingenuity that will translate to uplift our country. FDR, Lincoln and Kennedy had these qualities and I see them in Obama.

I am as usual, enjoying my mug of organically & shade-grown, fair-trade, Sumatran-Roast coffee, on this fine post-debate, 48ºF and party-cloudy Wednesday morning here in old Saint Paul, Minnesota, after staying up waaay past my preferred bedtime of 8pm CDT to watch this second of three presidential debates.

And as you can clearly see, I’m smiling. Smiling because Senator McCain, in this town hall-style debate (his preferred debate venue), failed to land any serious blows on Senator Obama—and as I’m sure was a big disappointment to his base—especially after assuring them that the “gloves” would be off on Tuesday night—kept the gloved firmly laced, and avoided any mention of the alleged evil three: Ayers, Rezko & Wright.

In fact neither candidate scored a knockout punch, and both basically repeated their respective bullet points. Senator Obama really didn’t need to—Senator McCain did. I believe the debate was a draw.

Senator McCain needed a clear win to have the remotest hope of turning his campaign around and stop his poll-hemorrhaging. He failed—so in essence he lost the debate.

            That’s clear Economic Terrorism aimed at the American people.

            It’s not enough that people have lost jobs, homes, and money on stocks manipulated by Golden Umbrella Boy CEOs.  Now Congress has ignored the requests of the American people NOT to vote for the Wall Street Bail Out.

            McCain and Obama both advocated for the bail out, clearly ignoring the American people—many of whom will undoubtedly still vote for them because they don’t realize they have an alternative.

            What’s the alternative?

            Suppressed by the American media, by the Commission for Presidential Debates, and by the Gallup Poll, Ralph Nader’s candidacy for president of the United States is known by only a minority of Americans. 

            While some Americans believe the Two Party System’s cry of “election spoiler” in regard to Nader, others are savvy enough to realize that Ralph Nader is the only true advocate for change running for president—the only real Maverick on the ballots in 45 states and the District of Columbia.

            In fact, Nader predicted the current economic crisis back when Clinton deregulated Wall Street.  He and Gonzales stood firmly against the Wall Street bail out, arguing that the American people deserved better than to have Congress simply throw money at the problem in the hopes of stabilizing our economy.

            Of course, the corporations, geared to make millions off of American losses, pushed members of Congress to ignore the American people.

            Who did Congress listen to? Not Nader, or they would have seen the crisis coming. Not the people, or they wouldn’t have voted for the bail out.

            Congress and the Two Party System are clearly in the pockets of the corporations. Greed has become King, and the American people be damned.

            Ready to fight the real war on terror?

            Good.

Vote Nader/Gonzales in November.

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5

part 6

part 7

part 8

part 9

part 10

So now for my take on the debate, a debate that was void of anything new for me to write about. At first me and my buddy were listening to it in the car and McCain was not doing to well. As time went on and the subject matter changed form the economy to national security he picked up the pace a little bit. Although, at times, I did find myself answering the questions for John, actually, more like screaming at the TV as if I were watching the world series or the super bowl.

All I can say is that McCain dominated Obama on the strategic military operations part of the debate. Anytime he was talking about what we need to do on any of the fronts in the war on terror he knew what he was talking about and that was good. During the economic portion of the debate, as my friend so eloquently put it, he sounded like he was going to cry. It might not have been that bad, but he really didn’t say to much new stuff. He didn’t do in that portion what he did do in the military portion of the debate, which was attack Obama more. The problem is that no matter what he say’s he’s going against the wind, because the cards are stacked in Obama’s favor when it comes to economic issues. McCain needs to use his temper, and find a bat, because he is in dire need of some homerun’s in the coming weeks and in the next debate. He cannot afford to sound like the same old McCain from the first two debates and he needs to create a new stump speech, because this one is getting old and over used.

As for Obama’s part in the speech, I think that he looked weak during the foreign policy area, as I‘ve said, but he did better than McCain in the economic portion. I think that if McCain spoke about the economy as strategically as he does about the military he would be doing a lot better than he is now. Unfortunately, for McCain this economic crisis happened at the completely wrong time, and the completely right time for Obama.

Overall I don’t feel any different about this election because of this debate. I don’t think there was a clear winner as far as the actual debate goes. The main reason for the lack of a winner is the fact that nothing new came out of it.  McCain did have a good line or two every now and then, there was also a time where proudly walked over to his chair sending Obama a “what’ve you got now” signal. But a couple of good lines and a confident walk won’t get anyone anywhere except confidently walking to the closest phone to give Barack Obama a call congratulating him on his victory.

McCain, you said you were going to take the gloves off, take them off. Blogger’s, Sarah Palin and talk radio hosts can’t do all of your bidding for you. You need to fight back because right now things don’t look to good for you sir.

It should be noted that even though I believe McCain is down in America and the polls substantiate that claim, I’m not entirely convinced that this race is over. We are still just as divided as we were in 2000 and in 2004, both very close races. And in politics a month is a long time.

I am writing to you at the wee hours in the morning, as I am still wide awake, and have little else to do. Eventually one DOES tire of reading the never-ending commentary on the Obama-McCain debates, believe it or not.  (I don't understand why this is even news, honestly... Obama has already won, as far as I'm concerned.)  Eventually one just gets depressed and has to move on to something more inspiring, something like, say, listening to one's new mix of a totally awesome top-secret killer dance song that one made...  72 times on one's ipod... until one gets sick of that too and looks for something else to do.... I am kidding--  of course I'm not sick of it.  I love it more than anything in the world.  I'm just... taking a little break.  That's all... 

This is it.  This is the last time I can do this.  After tonight, no more.  No more.  God, this is so boring! The worst part about being up after 4 is the only people who are also awake are either drunks, weirdos, losers who don't have jobs (or have to work at night), or all the above, so you either have to sink to their level and hang out with them, or go on living like a hermit with no social contact (I generally pick the second category...).   But then, this late-night stuff, in a way it can be really productive too.  A squirrel can really get a lot done when she doesn't have all the interruptions of the daylights hours, like the phone ringing, people chatting outside the window, and, you know, light....  

But again, that also makes it so much easier to stalk people on Facebook and Twitter... then 2 hours goes by and Squirrely has accomplished diddley squat and feels her life is going nowhere fast... And then she gets so crazy she starts talking about herself in the third person singular in her new blog which was supposed to be AWESOME... Oh god... Next thing you know, Squirrely is going to the doctor to get a little pill with all the last letters of the alphabet in it (Does this say something of what the mental health officials think of those who suffer emotionally?  With everything considered, would you not have to be a bit psychopathic to not get a little sad every now and again?  Are we so bottom-rung that we only deserve to have 'x's and 'z's and 'y's in our drugs...??  Maybe I will just take an Aspirin... Just knowing there's an 'a' in there would make me feel a lot better actually... I'm worth higher-ranking members of the alphabet, damnit!)  Eeek!  No, can't go there.  No Zoloft or Zortex or Celexyl for this squirrel, thank you.  I am not depressed, I am just awake.  At the most inappropriate of hours.  Lately.  That's all...

I think I'm gonna go eat a banana.  Bananas always make me feel better.  I can't even tell you how much I love bananas.  The only thing I love more than bananas is, of course, trail mix, and my love for trail mix is so indescribable, it's unfathomable. Unfathomable!  (Good grief-- this just gets worse and worse, doesn't it?  WHEN will it end??) Oh man... one more hour and the sun will be coming up... I can go and get a coffee (or 5...) and do my laundry and shop and pretend like this night never happened and just get on with my life... Yes yes yes... I will I will... There is hope for me.  There really is.  

Until next time...

xoxox

SP

PS:  I seem to be having some technical difficulties with my email forwarder, so if any of you have been trying to reach me, I am not ignoring you;  I am simply not getting the emails for whatever reason.  I have asked my hosting service to fix the problem, which they hopefully will sooner rather than later.  In the meantime, you can reach me at squirrelpowerlovesyou@gmail.com, or just leave a comment on my page. Sorry for the fuss!

I mean seriously, what are people waiting for? Ever since the primaries and up until this very day, McCain and Obama have been debating the same positions on the SAME issues. What else is there to say? Nothing more can be said. Are people waiting for an ephiphany to come to them in a dream? I have no idea what anyone could possibly be undecided about. I'm baffled.

I wrote yesterday that the town-hall format would offer a "dynamic environment" which would benefit McCain (The Zanzibar Gazette). In fact, the debate lacked any real quality of a town hall meeting. It does not matter if 'ordinary' citizens ask the questions if the questions are as pre-prepared, boring and uninteresting as those that a professional moderator would ask (the only exception was: would you support Israel in the event of an Iranian attack?). No dynamism at all.

On the issues, McCain was hugely disappointing in the first half of the debate when the focus was on the economy. Just like any politician, he did not actually answer any questions (neither did Obama). Why was the audience not allowed to reply to the candidates' answers and say "hey, you didn't answer my question"? McCain cannot base his response to this gigantic credit crisis by referring to earmarks - they have very little if anything to do with what is going on the banking system.

So by half-time I was embarrassed to be the Republican in the room. Obama won at this stage not by being brilliant (he was boring too) but by not being as bad as McCain. His petty attacks on Obama did not help either.

But then the debate moved on to national security and foreign policy. Just like in the first debate, this was McCain Country. Obama was uninteresting and, as any liberal on foreign policy, indecisive. McCain exhibited knowledge and conviction.

The weirdest part was when Tom Brokaw, the moderator, asked what a McCain/Obama Doctrine on humanitarian intervention would look like. While McCain outlined a sensible approach, in line with mine, that if America can stop genocide it should use military force to do so. But focus should be on whether America actually can improve the situation by intervening. Morally and practically on the money.

But Obama said that, and this is from the transcript, "If we could've stopped Rwanda, surely, if we had the ability, that would be something that we would have to strongly consider and act" (CNN). His reaction to genocide, if America can do something, is to 'strongly consider' it? Gee, I wish we had him in office in the 1990s because then America would have 'strongly considered' whether to intervene to stop mass-slaughter. Obama is not a neoconservative but neither is he a bleeding-heart, activist liberal.

So McCain won big in the second half. But sadly the most annoying political saying in history is true - "it's the economy, stupid". And McCain lost in that respect.

JDR

John McCain has been an Absolute Disaster his Entire Life

Any mindless idiot who supports McCain and Palin running for presidency should be required to re-enter elementary school.

The chances for McCain being in the middle of a giant disaster is very high.

It seems wherever this Fire Marshal Bill wanabee is disaster follows.

Take the time McCain was almost killed on July 29, 1967, when he was near the center of the Forrestal fire. He escaped from his burning jet and was trying to help another pilot escape when a bomb exploded.

Countless soldiers died during this fire and this was before he was shot down and became a famous POW.  After his amazing ordeal as a POW and coming you would think there would be no more disasters.

After Return, his 1st Wife Suffered a Crippling Car Accident

Would a true leader and presidential candidate do to support his crippled wife?  Divroce.

McCain who obviously needs to take an anger management course while he takes daily visits to the phychologist to stop his Vietnam flashbacks which wake him up in the middle of every night.

McCain is a feeble 72 year old whose ticker could stop ticking at any minute and the only backup is a retard bearing, white trash, failure of a mother who has been governing all 20 igloos and drunk eskimos in Alaska for the past 6 months.

McCain is a miserable agent of imperialism, puppet of Israel and a person who could are less about the average American, than a sperm droplet in his pubic hair.  This republican conservative is just licking his chops at a chance of making billions of dollars for himself and his supporters while letting others suffer.

This man with 12 houses does not understand the problems of the 95% of people with only 1.  How can a flamboyantly rich old man run a country full of 99% of people which he has nothing in common with?  There is only one way.

John McCain is sure to cause the next disaster for the United States but now you can consider John McCain one of 58 Reasons to Hate America.

Almeno secondo Amazon, che per Halloween, ha calcolato la vendita della maschera del Candidato Democratico: 57 % D acquisti contro il 43 % dell'avversario McCain. Vincerà anche le elezioni il 4 novembre??? Come direbbe il bardo, "Lo scopriremo solo vivendo".

Ciaoo, Steven.

La.St.

The town hall format was said to favour John McCain, though seeing how physically uncomfortable he seemed moving around the stage I'm not sure it worked out that way. The format itself seems pointless when it is as contrived as it was last night. Town halls aren't full of very focused, equally undecided voters who have a list of prepared questions on index cards. Translated to the studio as it was last night, it just didn't work.

Many of the questions were more direct than the previous debate, and some of the answers were. Some.

Obama spun a few of the questions well when the original didn't suit him, and McCain, it has to be said, did a good job of avoiding some answers altogether. The new 'gloves off' approach championed by the Republican ticket was evident but not as extreme as expected. There was much more jibing, and on a few occasions when McCain seemed to go a bit too far you could see the crowd switching off.

McCain came across well in some ways. He worked on being friendly and approachable, and even looked at Obama a few times which unfortunately seems exceptional. If he hadn't referred to the audience - or the world? - as "my friends" at the start of every second sentence, he might have pulled things off a bit better. But he seemed unsteady throughout, and couldn't seem to sit still when Obama was speaking. It was disconcerting to say the least. Obama seemed very comfortable, considering that he is obviously more accustomed to the podium than the town-hall walkabout setup.

A few issues - like healthcare, and Iraq - sent the magical CNN Opinion Tracker spiking all over the place - noticeably in one direction when Obama spoke, and in the other when McCain did. But I'm not sure how much faith I have in those squiggly lines so it may be easier to judge by the expressions on faces around the room. They started interested, but 90 minutes in they were like zombies.

Tom Brockaw seemed a bit rubbish.

The most notable moment of the night came when, in the course of yet another slightly awkward joke, McCain referred to Obama simply as "That one" (his tone suggested no capital O). He smiled afterwards, or maybe it was a laugh, but last time I checked when you're really joking that's not strictly necessary. McCain is likely to face a raft of headlines today about the level of disdain in his voice as he spoke those two words, and combined with other goings on in and around his campaign it doesn't paint a pretty picture.

Much of the discussion of both candidates has focussed around whether or not they are 'presidential'. The first debate was an acid test of Obama's suitability, and he pulled it off. He seemed competent, well informed, well able to handle himself and the issues. He was reassuring. McCain, by anyone's assessment, was more than a little... snibby. But in the last few weeks, whether it's because of the polling numbers or other factors, McCain's campaign has turned a corner towards definitively unpresidential territory.

It's one thing to disagree with your opponent. It's one thing to make up a long list of lies about your opponent. It's quite another to allow for threats of the kind that have been heard, and indirectly encouraged, at Republican ticket rallies in the last few days. But on an even more basic level, no matter what they think of each other's personalities or policies, surely each candidate needs to display basic respect for their opponent.

The more McCain fails to do that one simple thing... the more he fails, full stop.

If the comment wasn't so absurd and tragic, it would have simply been pathetic.

Let's see if we can't put the impending financial disaster in perspective...

The bubble chart above was created in MS PowerPoint (though any number of SW packages can do likewise). But what do the numbers mean? Well, they're in billions of dollars and represent the following American and U.K. situations:

• The little dot on the bottom represents the $25 billion Bradford and Bingley nationalization
• The $85 billion is destined to AIG
• Two hundred billion (in blue) is for good old Fannie and Freddie
• $215 billion to prop up the flailing British mortgage lender Northern Rock
• Ah, the good stuff... $700,000,000,000.00 for the current U.S. rescue... That's in red.
• The $2,470 is the entire U.K.'s GDP in billions
• $14,294 is the U.S. GDP in billions
• But what of that monster in the background? What of that $50,000 billion bubble that runs off the screen? That's the $50 trillion social security disaster that's waiting for Americans down the road.

The numbers are kind of mind numbing ain't they? Well, amateur arm-chair astronomy being a hobby of mine, maybe some "planetary perspective" here will help. Speaking in terms of diameter, in the image above, the $200 billion blue orb (aka "Planet Freddie and Fannie") would be something of the size of the pipsqueak planet Mars in our solar system. The "$700 Billion Bailout" planet in red would represent earth. And the massive $50 trillion outer giant is our sun. Ouch.

Look, I tried to be conservative with the numbers, and yes those numbers are going to change... But the magnitudes are probably correct. It is to scale, and you can easily reproduce it.

My gripe isn't just with Obama. And it isn't just with McCain. And it isn't just with Bush II, or Clinton, or Bush I or... The problem (now a towering disaster) of Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid has been lurking for decades, and our politicians simply keep making empty promises that they're going to fix it just so they can get elected. It is what it is. Is Glen Beck the only one who gets it?

I apologize for playing the same video or at least pointing to the same video or graphics as in previous posts. But this is important. Truth should be persistent.

Look, fiscally speaking, we're in a land of hurt, and politicians and talking heads just want to play politics - future be damned. And if you think Obama or McCain is just going to flop down into 1600 and fix this horror, you're a damned fool. The coming storm is something like America has never seen before.

Oh, the collapse probably won't happen tomorrow, or even next year. But it will happen. Stars like Obama and McCain may lie, but the numbers never do.

Alan Speakman

Mi sono preso la briga stanotte di caricare la sveglia alle 3 di mattina (!) per vedere in diretta il confronto Obama-McCain su Rai News. Già questo piccolo fatto segna il divario di interesse tra la politica nostra e la loro: mai mi sarei alzato a quest'ora, neppure a pagamento, per vedere un confronto televisivo Berlusconi-Veltroni. La sola idea mi fa venire l'orticaria.

Si è trattato del penultimo "scontro" tra i due candidati alla presidenza, prima di quello del 15 ottobre, in cui probabilmente si alzeranno ancora i toni, fini qui piuttosto sonnacchiosi. Anche in questo caso il termine "confronto" è apparso un po' fuori luogo: i due candidati praticamente non si sono mai rivolti la parola, erano fisicamente vicini a pochi metri ma senza alcun scontro dialettico diretto.

La formula era quella di rispondere alla domande di una platea di selezionati spettatori e del conduttore. Il quale pare abbia ricevuto via mail 6 milioni di domande (!), delle quali ne sono state selezionate 6 o 7. Obama si è presentato fascinoso come al solito, sorridente, sicuro di sé, apparentemente rilassato (anche se ha bevuto diverse volte il suo bicchiere d'acqua). McCain era più sciolto e meno controllato nell'eloquio, ma fisicamente molto rigido per via dell'età, costretto a muoversi a piccoli passettini.

La prima cosa che mi ha sorpreso è che entrambi i candidati reggevano un microfono, come se fossero dei presentatori. Una scelta incomprensibile, quasi nessuno oggi usa i microfoni a mano: entrambi, se non ho visto male, avevano anche il microfono a clip (lavalier) sul bavero. Siccome questi show elettorali sono studiati fin nei minimi dettagli, ho pensato che fosse una precisa scelta "estetica": tenere in mano un microfono comporta una maggiore compostezza mentre si parla. Si gesticola di meno, e si elimina il problema di "dove tenere le mani". Una mano in tasca può far sembrare disinvolto il candidato, ma anche superficiale. Una mano sul fianco può apparire indisponente, lungo il fianco invece può far sembrare troppo rigidi. Col microfono da tenere in mano, il "body-language", il linguaggio del corpo, è più sotto controllo.

I due candidati avevano un piccolo tavolino per prendere appunti (si è visto che McCain è mancino) e una specie di sgabellone. Saggiamente, nessuno dei due si è seduto. Anche la postura però denunciava la differenza di età: plasticamente appoggiato con eleganza Obama, quasi seduto, con le gambe giunte, McCain. Questi aveva buon gioco nel recitare la parte del buon padre di famiglia, dovuta più che altro ad una questione anagrafica, cercando di vantare sull'avversario esperienza e saggezza. In svantaggio fin qui nei sondaggi, il vecchio senatore repubblicano ha dovuto essere parecchio aggressivo nei confronti di Obama, ma i risultati sono sembrati modesti, a volte è sembrato più stizzoso che saggio. Obama pareva più posato, più autorevole, più "presidente". Abbastanza comico quando ha dovuto ribattere, imbarazzato, ad una affermazione di McCain: "Non ho mai detto che voglio invadere il Pakistan". Personalente ho avuto un sussulto quando Barack ha detto, testuale, di voler "uccidere" Bin Laden. Un futuro presidente che ha nel programma quello di uccidere qualcuno, sorprende un po'. Figuratevi se Berlusconi o Veltroni durante la campagna elettorale dicessero di volere uccidere Amadinejahd!

A tratti il faccia a faccia francamente mi è sembrato una recita: entrambi i candidati erano attentissimi a non commettere passi falsi, a non fare gaffes, a mandare a memoria risposte evidentemente provate mille volte col proprio staff. Anche i tempi troppo ristretti, appena 2 minuti per le risposte, se da una parte agevolano la sintesi, dall'altra portano i candidati a parlare per slogan. Come si fa a fare un ragionamento serio di politica estera, o di economia, in soli due minuti? E' impossibile. Infatti la gran parte delle risposte è stata un noioso ribadire di concetti studiati a tavolino. Sui contenuti c'è poco da dire a mio parere, trattandosi appunto di pura propaganda e di generiche buone intenzioni.

E' apparsa a tratti chiara la differenza tra la realtà italiana e quella americana. Noi ancora irrimediabilmente e incorreggibilmente ideologici (sinistra-destra eccetera), loro molto più pragmatici. L'economia, dopo il disastro delle banche e dell'economia USA, è al centro dell'attenzione di tutti, così come "l'assicurazione sanitaria" che per gli americani pare, a giudicare da domande e risposte nel dibattito televisivo, una vera ossessione.

A mio parere il confronto si è chiuso con un leggero vantaggio per Obama. La strada fino al 4 novembre, giorno del voto, è però ancora lunghissima e può succedere di tutto.

MICHAEL SCOTT: Tom, I would prefer that you address me as Senator Scott.

TOM BROKAW: (long pause)...Uh, okay, let's get started.  The first question is to Senator Obama.  This from Oliver Clark.  Oliver asks: Through this economic crisis, most of the people that I know have had a difficult time.  How is this bailout package actually going to help these people out?

SENATOR OBAMA: Thanks Tom.  Oliver, first, let me tell you what's in the rescue package for you. Right now, the credit markets are frozen up and what that means, as a practical matter, is that small businesses and some large businesses just can't get loans.  If they can't get a loan, that means that they can't make payroll. If they can't make payroll, then they may end up having to shut their doors and lay people off.  And if you imagine just one company trying to deal with that, now imagine a million companies all across the country.  So it could end up having an adverse effect on everybody, and that's why we had to take action. But we shouldn't have been there in the first place.

SENATOR McCAIN: I'd like to jump in here.  My friends, Oliver's question is a good one.  You know, the match that lit this fire was Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I'll bet you, people like Allen and Mr. Scott here probably never even heard of them before this crisis.

MICHAEL SCOTT: (perplexed) ...Who's Allen?

SENATOR McCAIN: See?  So, Fannie and Freddie were the match that started this forest fire.  Some of us stood up against it. There were others who took a hike.

TOM BROKAW: Thank you Senator McCain.  Mr. Scott, do you have anything to add?

MICHAEL SCOTT: Tom, again I would prefer it if you addressed me as Senator.  And yes, yes I do have something to add.  You know, I run a paper business out in Scranton, Pennsylvania.  While Fannie and Freddie are out there lighting fires, guess who, or more importantly, what--is getting burned?  That's right: paper.  And you know what will happen if these forest fires don't get extinguished?  No more paper. (McCain nodding somberly) Now, I've taken a hike before, don't get me wrong.  There are many beautiful trails outside of Scranton.  But if we keep having these fires, what's going to happen to these trees that overlook the trails?  Whoa, big fire, (simulates fire with hands) Smokey the Bear can't save us, ahhh--there goes the paper!  There go the trees!  There go the trails!  Now I'm out of both a job and an enjoyable weekend hobby.

TOM BROKAW: ...Right.  OK, next question.  Senator McCain, in all candor, do you think the economy is going to get worse before it gets better?

SENATOR McCAIN: My friends, we can fix our economy. Americans' workers are the best in the world. They're the fundamental aspect of America's economy.  They're the most innovative. They're the best--they're most--have best--we're the best exporters. We're the best importers. They're most effective. They are the best workers in the world.

TOM BROKAW: (confused) OK... Senator Obama?

SENATOR OBAMA: Part of the problem here is that for many of you, wages and incomes have flat-lined. For many of you, it is getting harder--

MICHAEL SCOTT: That's what she said!

SENATOR OBAMA: (looking pissed) Excuse me?

MICHAEL SCOTT: Sorry, that's just a thing I do, I--you know, OK, so seriously--the economy.  I mean, I live a pretty good life.  I don't own 8 cars or anything, but I do own my own condo, I run my own branch of Dunder Mifflin, AND (pointing to stomach) I am a soon-to-be father.

TOM BROKAW: Congratulations, but we really need to get on--

MICHAEL SCOTT: (continuing) Now, do I want to raise my child in a country where America is #2?  Where we're sitting at home, looking up as Madagascar laps us in the recyclable paper business?  No, no--that is not what I want for my child.

TOM BROKAW: Thank you Mr. Scott.

MICHAEL SCOTT: (wagging finger) Tom???

TOM BROKAW: (reluctantly)...Senator Scott.  Let's move on.  Next question, Senator Obama: There are some real questions about whether everything can be done at once.  Health care, energy, and entitlement reform--give us your list of priorities.

SENATOR OBAMA: Terrific question, Tom.  We're going to have to prioritize, just like a family has to prioritize. Now--

SENATOR McCAIN: (interrupting) Hey look, we're not--we're not--we're not rifle shots here.  We are Americans. And I think you can do all three at once.

MICHAEL SCOTT: (whispering) That's what...

TOM BROKAW: That's enough.  We're moving on.  Our last question is from a hippie in Vermont.  She asks: As president, how will you know what you don't know and what will you do when you figure out that which you don't know?  Senator Obama, I'll start with you.

SENATOR OBAMA: Tom, one of the things that we know about the presidency is that it's never the challenges that you expect. Here's what I do know: I know that if the economy continues to struggle, Mr. Scott over here is going to have a tough time keeping up with the mortgage payments on the condo he's got.  His firm may soon be facing the real possibility of having to let some people go.

We can't expect that if we do the same things that we've been doing over the last eight years, that somehow we are going to have a different outcome.  We need fundamental change. That's what's at stake in this election.

MICHAEL SCOTT: (looking fearful) Will there still be enough money for a Christmas party?

SENATOR McCAIN: My friends, there are challenges around the world that are new and different and there will be different--we will be talking about countries sometime in the future that we hardly know where they are on the map, some Americans. (Michael Scott nods emphatically)

When times are tough, we need a steady hand at the tiller and the great honor of my life was to always put my country first. And--and--you know who is going to raise our taxes and take away Christmas?  That one.  (points at Senator Obama)

MICHAEL SCOTT: (running from stage) Noooooooooooooo!!

TOM BROKAW: And that concludes tonight's debate from here in Nashville.  We want to thank Belmont University, the Commission, and the traffic light operator for tonight's debate.  There is one more opportunity for the talking heads to give their stump speeches: next Wednesday, October 15, with host Ryan Seacrest and musical guest Akon.  Good night everyone.

(NOTE: All text in black is what was actually said, taken from the CNN transcript of Tuesday night's debate.)

Por David Usborne *

Auch hierzu wieder eine Blogschau für zeit.de (upcoming). Lässt man den Inhalt mal außen vor, sticht das Format der "Bürgerversammlung" aus der Debattenserie hervor. Ursprünglich als die "Internet-Debatte" vorgesehen (die offizielle Online-Bearbeitung durch MySpace war aber "lang-wei-lig" (H. Simpson) und wurde von neueren Mash-Ups wie "Hack the Debate" bei weitem übertroffen).

Einen interessanten Punkt macht jedoch die Intervention der Open Debate Coalition, die eine Vielzahl von Internet-Größen versammelt (u.a. Lawrence Lessig, Craig Newmark, Katharina Huffington). In einem Brief an die beiden Kandidaten wird die "Rückgabe" des Formates an die Bürger verlangt - die etablierten Mainstream-Medien kontrollierten die Debatte in unzulässiger Weise und erschwerten der breiten Öffentlichkeit den Zugang. Das entsprechende Dokument gibt es u.a. hier. Eine etwas längere Darstellung zur Intervention und den Reaktionen von Obama und McCain findet sich bei Wired.

 I am one of those independent voters both candidates are trying to convince.  And, truth be known, tonight's debate between John and Barrack was no help for them to get my vote.  Tonight was McCain's chance to mix things up and raise a few eyebrows.  Instead he had me burying my head in my hands..part of the time laughing...part of the time wondering what has he been drinking?

This presidential campaign has been too long.  Something has got to be done when we are once more ready to make a similar decision some four years from now.  These candidates feel like two relatives you have learned far too much about  when they decide to visit your home ans they have stayed far too long. 

To think another set of wanna-bee presidential candidates, like Sarah Palin, could be today organizing their exploratory committees for 2012 is quite frightening.

It would be one thing if John and Barrack's rhetoric carried significant substance. It did not.   While I am sure they believe what they are saying means something, I do believe I am not alone in stating their efforts to "stay on message"  makes me feel like I am watching a bad paid for TV program about a new sandwich maker late at night and I have lost the remote.

I have to admit Barrack's suits are looking far more expensive these days and he looks good while wearing them.  The sale of such threads will surely rise.  It would have been nice to feel confident Barrack has some grasp of the world and how its politics works.  I Just don't feel he has a great sense of history...outside for how he THINKS John voted on this or that.  When asked who he would replace Paulson with at Treasury, I was floored he had no person other than McCain's choice of Obama supporter Warren Buffet.  Hell, tell the  man Mitt Romney....you know John McCain's nemesis!

I am not quite sure it means anything, but, it does appear Michelle Obama's weight is being affected by this campaign season.  I noticed the remarkable difference to her appearance as she walked onto the stage standing next to McCain's second wife Cindy.  If it is not that she has gained weight it  could be she should avoid wearing  red dresses and standing to close  to the pencil thin Cindy McCain, who strangely enough wore blue. 

As for Mr McCain, John is looking older, crankier, and staid as the last 30 days wheels on by.  He makes a substantive offer to have the government buy all the bad mortgages and have them renegotiated, BUT, he makes no effort to layout the details so we might taste the success of his plan.  Perhaps it was not a part of his plan, but, a whim.  Or, even better, one of the new notes he began scrawling on the pad he was not supposed to have with him at this debate. 

Also, his off the cuff shot at Tom Brokaw about not being one of his selections for the new Secretary of Treasury was useless and mindless.  Such comments might play well in a cavernous auditorium full of supporters who laugh because they are delerious  about your being the next great Republican candidate since Ronald Reagan. 

The first thing they teach you about public speaking is to make sure you know your audience. The audience in Nashville were carefully chosen independent voters who were looking for substance from their potential choice for the presidency.  On several occasions throughout the night John made one sharp comment after another trying to play to the crowd in his clever old way.  His condescending "that one" comment made while pointing to Obama seemed more to accentuate his cranky ancient demeanor than to pull from the crowd a feeling a choice for John is a good one.

Obama and McCain, to me, seemed disconnected from the facts as they should be stated to support their promises that will be put on hold given the current economic conditions. I am aware that this is what politicians do in order to get elected in normal times.  These times, however, are not normal times.   Perhaps the enormous size of the economic problems of this country and the rest of the world makes small the very nature of each candidates promise and saying "they are as clueless" as we are about which one we will want to handle them would simply be political Kool-Aid.

For the first time in the last 19 months, knowing what I do know about the human condition, I am somewhat fearful for those who do not have enough to eat tonight, a place upon which to sleep, and enough money for home heating oil to warm them in this coming harsh winter.  I am somewhat hesitant about there being a clear direction for this country emerging from the new administration.   Perhaps it is time WE TOOK THE REIGNS and explain to them how we want it to be led.  How that is accomplished....I have not the foggiest.

As odd as this may sound, the days following 9-11 seemed to have far more a feeling of direction than that of these days with these two candidates for the presidency of this good and great country. 

Again, as odd as this may sound, with all of the doubt I express above I still possess a great deal of hope we will see our way through the next four years of tough economic high unemployment times despite which president is in office.

I still have to remind myself these two are vying to be the servant of a country with 300+ million leaders.

You are loved...and loved RIGHT NOW.

Winner: Belmont University for providing a terrific venue

Loser: Tom Brokaw for over-scripting a usually spontaneous format

First Runner-up: John McCain for one new idea, the mortgage rate reset proposal

Second Runner-up: Barack Obama for best teflon suit (nothing stuck to him)

I am not sure I understand what John McCain said about his plan to fix the economy or was he just making it up as he went along.  His plan to buy up bad mortgages left me very confused.  I thought we just did that with the bailout?  Maybe I have it wrong but his idea seems awfully familiar to a what Paulson said several weeks ago. 

On the healthcare issue everything I have read and heard from my friends favors Obama's plan.  It was a little clearer tonight and I will look more deeply into what each candidate offers, but one thing is very true.  I agreed with Obama on his answer to one of the questions, that Healthcare is a right.  John McCain said it was a responsibility, but didn't say whose responsibility. 

In my life I have had good healthcare plans through my employers.  I am more fortunate than my sister.  When she fell several times because of a weak ankle, and asked for a referral from her doctor to see a specialist, she was told that she needed to fall a few more times before it would be warranted.  So in this era of preventative healthcare (bullshit) my sis needs to go break something to get to see a real foot doctor.  In my humble opinion, that just isn't fair.  All healthcare plans are not equal. 

Well enough rambling for tonite, more tomorrow on the debate.