If Sen. John McCain ever tried to disassociate his persona from George Bush's, he failed miserably at Tuesday night's debate in Nashville, Tenn. McCain seemed restless, combative, creepy and sometimes sniveling. His lame attempts at jokes seemed inappropriate despite the less formal town hall forum.
The town hall style itself...was as bad as McCain's jokes.
Sen. Barack Obama began to answer each question strongly then got caught up in political rhetoric that lost me and certainly viewers. Though he stuttered sometimes and struggled to answer, his charisma still managed to win me over, especially how peaceful he seemed when taking criticism from McCain. McCain just laughed off criticism and joked about it. I don't know about you, but I want my next president to take the people's criticism seriously.
The two incessantly talked their policies to death rather than connecting with the people in the audience, who, quite frankly, looked pretty bored. CNN's Mark Preston said, "Neither candidate had a stellar performance. Each failed to effectively use the town hall format to express compassion for the problems voters are facing. Instead, Obama and McCain used the debate as a soapbox to tout their policy positions and criticize one another on their policy stands." Yes and yes.The two men's quips at one another and disregard for the time constraint were frustrating. I know the two are trying to become the next president, but neither of them can seem to follow the simple debate rules that THEY set out. Amazing.
However, the most humanizing moments were the most important for me. When the two candidates can step outside of their campaigns and really criticize what they're doing by considering voters' perceptions of them. Each candidate did that at one point during the debate and my ears definitely perked up.
Obama responded to Oliver Clark's question about how the bailout package would really help people saying, "...Look, you're not interested in hearing politicians pointing fingers. What you're interested in is trying to figure out, how is this going to impact you?" He and McCain heatedly argued over who supported what bill in the Senate that bolstered FannyMae and FreddyMac into ruin. A lot of voters have resigned themselves to never understanding the issue, but we just want someone to fix it and Obama, acknowledging our frustrations and the blame game, won some serious brownie points. 
But McCain did, too, at least before he called Obama "that one." In response to Tom Brokaw's follow-up question about funding a Manhattan-like project or 100,000 garages McCain came to say, "By the way, my friends, I know you grow a little weary with this back-and-forth." Yes, we do. Though he acknowledged that voters were growing weary, he proceeded to point fingers practically negating his disclaimer. I want to like him, I do... but he makes it so hard sometimes. He put me off, but I'm sure others still remain undecided.
I know that it doesn't make sense to base my opinion of either candidate on mannerisms and conduct, but I can't. Maybe McCain really could be a great leader. Maybe Obama's suavete could be his downfall. But we live in an image-obsessed society that will always take into account its discontent when formulating an opinion--if people had known FDR was in a wheelchair, would they still have voted for him? Today these candidates not only have to present good policies, they also have to perform up to par and look good doing it or else we won't entrust them with the task at hand--leading the Free World at a time when it seems to be crumbling.Basically, it all boils down to who can act the most presidential. On Tuesday night, Obama took the cake.
P.S. Is anyone else kind of disappointed Joe Biden didn't turn Sarah Palin into a chew toy at the veep debate? Pitbull she is not... You betcha I woulda felt bad for 'er. *wink*
Credits: CNN video, cnn.com; heads about to roll?, gettyimages.com; Obama pointing fingers, gettyimages.com; McCain calling Obama "that one"? gettyimages.com; FDR in a wheelchair, wikipedia.org
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