Debate Reaction

Alright guys, sorry I haven't posted in so long, college has been eating my life and whatnot. Before I go into my reaction to the debate, I wanted to give a quick update on the Catholic confirmation front. It's looking as if I am not going to be rejoining the Church any time soon because of lack of time, and also a second guessing of myself. As things happen I'll keep you posted.

Now, to the meat of the matter, the debate. Last night's debate was to be on foreign policy, bur for obvious reasons the economy took up a good half or so of the debate time. Overall, I think the debate came out as a tie, or perhaps a slight win for Obama. McCain needed a decisive victory here, afterall this is supposed to be his turf, and he simply didn't get the win. Obama seemed to comfortably hold his own against McCain and I think this may very well have been his best debate yet.

Obama owned the first half of the debate, not only because he started strong but because he has an incredible edge on the economy as an issue (though both floundered on potential program cuts due to the proposed bailout). McCain then seemed to regain ground, but I think his attempts to label Obama as naive or "not understanding" fell flat in the end, as (I think) Obama's attempts to tie McCain to Bush. The second half of the debate seemed to be a sparring match as each went back and forth making accusations, counter-accusations and so on. There were seemingly no major gaffes and no clear cut winner. There weren't any memorable or sound byte worthy moments, but it was interesting to see the two go back and forth on foreign policy. Quite simply though, I don't think McCain got the results he needed to turn the momentum, which can only help Obama as the debates turn to issues that neither candidate, or Obama, has a perceived edge. Obama has passed his most difficult hurdle in the debate topics by holding his own with McCain. The next few debates, including the VP debates, ought to prove incredibly interesting.