Tonight's Debate

My thoughts:

I think Obama did okay tonight. Not great, but not bad either. I think the single biggest mistake Obama made was to let McCain say over and over that Obama "doesn't understand" or is "naïve." The correct response after a while to that was the same as his response to the same critique from Hillary Clinton in the primaries. "I find it amusing that one of the architects of the worst foreign policy catastrophe in a generation would say that I don't understand or that I'm naïve. I got that right and John McCain got it wrong." He made this argument at one point but didn’t connect it to McCain calling him naïve and inexperienced. At the same time, is McCain really trying to convince more people that he’s more experienced than Obama? There are no more voters to be had there Johnnie. Anyone voting on the issue of experience is already with you.

But overall, I think this debate was a wash. McCain missed an opportunity in the sense that this debate was on his turf (foreign policy) and Obama looked plenty capable and knowledgable. On the other hand, McCain can only benefit from the debate and its aftermath becoming the story rather than the bailout, McCain’s bizarre behavior the last few days, and Palin’s disastrous interview with Couric.