Debate Postscript: Obama Crushes McCain

Barack Obama devastated John McCain’s hope for a game changer tonight. Obama won the debate handily.

The trouble for John McCain began much before the first question in the debate. John McCain was snookered by his own running mate. When Sarah Palin launched her hate filled character attacks aimed at Barack Obama over the weekend, she created an impossible situation for John McCain. With the personal attacks out there, any attack McCain made during tonight’s debate seemed weak. McCain’s own running mate made Obama’s character an issue, but the candidate himself – when confronted with the object of her scorn – could not muster a similar attack. The problem with these types of attacks is that if you unholster them, you need to fire. Otherwise you lose big.

And John McCain lost big. He was debating with a partner that was not there. Palin had put an albatross around his neck that he could not possibly shake tonight.

John McCain walked into a debate tonight – with the economic crisis as the backdrop – that had an air of seriousness to it. Guilt by association had no place tonight. He had to actually debate Obama on the issues.

Obama cleaned McCain’s clock. Obama showed easy command of domestic issues, and had the better argument on many of them. Obama called healthcare a "right" while McCain called it a "responsibility" – no doubt the Republican base will have liked McCain’s answer. However, I suspect the majority of Americans side with Obama’s definition.

On foreign policy Obama was stronger – and steadier. Every time Obama and McCain clash on going after bin Laden inside Pakistan, Obama wins. Obama projects strength while McCain projects bluster.

Tonight’s debate performance was Obama’s strongest to date. There was no flash in Obama’s performance, nor did he need it. He projected strength and reassurance – he looked presidential. He took the wind out of Sarah Palin’s increasingly hostile attacks on his character. The McCain/Palin ticket – in their stump speeches and in their ads – is trying to paint Obama as risky. However, when millions of Americans tune into see Obama debate, they see someone who is calm and in control. He does not look risky. Contrasted with a clearly angry and frustrated John McCain on the same stage, Obama looks presidential.