A clear choice

Photo of 2008 presidential election ballot

After the final (thank goodness!) presidential debate, the choice for voters is clear. Do they want Sen. Barack Obama, who is cool,calm and collected with detailed plans to address the critical issues facing our country? Or do they prefer Sen. John McCain, who is visibly angry and agitated, while providing vague and misleading talking points; a man who either doesn't answer or changes the subject when he doesn't have a plan - or a clue?

McCain made preposterous claims that he can balance the budget in four years, but provided no details - because of course he hasn't figured out a workable plan.

If McCain voting against equal pay for equal work didn't already hurt his chances with women voters, I expect his sneering use of air quotes, mocking the "health of the mother," while discussing abortion sealed the deal. He didn't seem to know that Sarah Palin's baby has Down's Syndrome, not autism.

A volcano waiting to erupt

Also, what was with McCain repeatedly blinking,grimacing, laughing inappropriately, rolling his eyes, chopping the desk and even snorting? He seemed ready to explode with fury. Who wants a hothead making urgent decisions about war, or anything else for that matter? I think there's a reason McCain won't fully divulge his medical records and the American people have a right to know. After all, McCain's put us all at risk by selecting an unqualified governor - whose political leanings appear to be somewhere to the right of Dick Cheney - as his running mate.

McCain claimed Palin is a role model for women. Is he serious? Someone who yesterday stood in New Hampshire and called it "this great Northwest?" (And that's the least of her blunders. McCain seemed to have forgotten about Palin's abuse of power,lawbreaking and ethical violations in Alaska, as outlined in the Troopergate report.).

McCain kept repeating the same lies about Obama's tax plan - lies already debunked by independent economists, non-partisan fact checkers and even McCain's cheerleader Fox "News," as Obama pointed out. (See the calculator in my sidebar for how the Obama-Biden tax plan would affect you).

When forced to defend the negative tone of his campaign, McCain reacted like a petulant child. He said the campaign might have taken on a different tone,had Obama agreed to town hall meetings. McCain also defended the militant few shouting violent threats and racist slurs at his and Palin's campaign rallies, saying "Let me just say, categorically, I'm proud of the people that come to our rallies."

While McCain accused Obama of negative advertising, a recent study by the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project,showed 100% of McCain's ads have been negative. McCain tried to deflect the criticism, saying his campaign was all about the economy and creating jobs - a risible statment that made Obama smile and many viewers laugh out loud.

Health insurance

McCain talked about his so-called health insurance plan of giving a $5000 tax credit to every American "to get the insurance they want, wherever they go." Another example of just how clueless McCain is,as the average health plan costs $12,500, not $5,000. Further, many plans refuse coverage for those with pre-existing medical conditions.

As Obama pointed out, McCain neglected to mention that for the first time in history, he would tax employer-based health insurance plans. So much for that $5000 tax credit.

McCain got a bit of a shock, after claiming Obama's plan would place a burden on small business unable to provide health insurance for its employees. He cited "Joe the Plumber," as an example (one of the most annoying and repeated reference of the debate).

Obama: "I'm happy to talk to you, Joe, too, if you're out there. Here is your fine: Zero."

McCain interrupted: "Zero??"

Obama: "Zero. You won't pay a fine because as I said in our last debate and I'll repeat John, I exempt small businesses from the requirement for large businesses that can afford to provide health care to their employees who are not doing it. I exempt small businesses from having to pay into a kitty..."

Obama's plan would cut health insurance costs an average of $2500/year. He would open the Federal employee pool for Americans without employer-paid care. Obama's plan also would focus on preventive care, to reduce costs in the long run. Read more details here.

The US Chamber of Commerce supports Obama's plan and says McCain's plan would cause the unraveling of the health care system in the US.

"Children are our future"

McCain's plans for education appeared to be based on distributing vouchers in the Washington, D.C. area. He seemed uncertain how to help the rest of the country, other than fire underperforming teachers. One of the best lines of the debate came when Obama, reminded McCain that children are our future, not special interests, as McCain's chief economic adviser Douglas Holz-Eakin dismissively claimed (the same guy who said McCain invented the Blackberry).

Sadly, debate moderator Bob Scheiffer of CBS spent way too much time focusing on inane distractions fomented by the McCain campaign and too little time talking about serious issues confronting America. Obama confronted McCain's smears,denouncing his ridiculous guilt-by-association "connections" as petty, meaningless distractions.

"...Let me tell you who I associate with," Obama said. "On economic policy, I associate with Warren Buffett and former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker. If I'm interested in figuring out my foreign policy, I associate myself with my running mate, Joe Biden or with Dick Lugar, the Republican ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, or General Jim Jones, the former supreme allied commander of NATO.

"Those are the people, Democrats and Republicans, who have shaped my ideas and who will be surrounding me in the White House. And I think the fact that this has become such an important part of your campaign, Sen. McCain, says more about your campaign than it says about me."

Yes, Obama won all three debates and every poll - including one conducted by Fox "News" - reiterated that fact.

Excerpts from today's New York Times editorial:

"...It’s a shame that Mr. McCain hasn’t come up with policies that would actually help workers. Instead, he’s served up the same-old trickle-down theories and a government-is-wrong, markets-are-right fervor that helped create this economic disaster.

"Wednesday night’s debate was another chance for Mr. McCain to prove that he is ready to lead this country out of its deep economic crisis. But he had one answer to almost every economic question: cut taxes and government spending. Unfortunately, what Mr. McCain means is to cut taxes for the richest Americans and, inevitably, to reduce the kinds of government services that working Americans need more than ever.

"Mr. McCain also stuck to his campaign’s nasty tone. He could not let go of the “Joe the Plumber” parable, saying his opponent’s plan was “to take Joe’s money, give it to Senator Obama and let him spread the wealth around.” Mr. McCain then accused Barack Obama of engaging in the sort of “class warfare” that has, in fact, been a focus of his own campaign.

"In another astonishing exchange, Mr. McCain acted as though he was the truly aggrieved party, insisting that he had repudiated all of the attacks on Mr. Obama by surrogates and “some fringe people” at rallies. He didn’t mention that his running mate, Sarah Palin, is one of the loudest attackers and he certainly didn’t repudiate her absurd, repeated charge that Mr. Obama has been “palling around with terrorists.”

"Quite the opposite. Mr. McCain again raised Mr. Obama’s old and meaningless acquaintance with William Ayers, a violent, 1960s radical who served with Mr. Obama on charitable foundations. Mr. McCain ended up seeming angry and desperate.

"Mr. McCain’s biggest problem is that he has no big ideas for fixing the country’s problems. His speech on the economy this week was replete with seriously bad ones, starting with cutting the already very low capital gains tax in half. That won’t rescue the economy. What it will do is dig the government further into debt while making the current tax structure that rewards the rich even more unfair..."

Comments

[Leau]

I'm late coming to the party Tara, didn't read this post until today but you nailed...again! And so did David Letterman last night with John. Dave really went after him and it was awesome. Drilled him about Sarah, went after him about the negative campaign ads, tried to pin him down about why if he "knows" where Osama is or how to balance the budget he hasn't shared it with the Pres! It was soooo funny and really amazing. Even the crowd was with Dave, McCain couldn't even get a round applause for any point he made, just a couple of claps! Only 18 more days.

[Tammy]

Wow, I was so into McCain's funny body lanquage I totally missed the autism/Palin mistake. Welcome home! XXOO

[stephanie]

Thank you for the perfect wrap up...I had many of the same 'what???' moments and it APPEARS that others, many others, are feeling the same way.

fingers crossed, phone calls made for local Dems, emails passing to family members that haven't made up their mind (HOW is this Possible??)

x..x

[Brenda Kula]

I watched all of the debates enthusiastically, and thought Obama undisputably had his finest debate last night. Did you catch at the beginning when McCain referred to "Freddie Mae" instead of "Fannie Mae", or was that a play on words? Actually, I don't think he's that clever, so I choose to think it was a misstep. His eyes frightened me. They were so intensely angry I thought he was going to have a stroke before the ninety minutes were up. With that demeanor and obvious temper, I don't think he'd live through four years in the White House. Obama was a class act, someone I trust to oversee the government. And McCain looked like an attack animal poised to pounce.
Brenda

[tangobaby]

I felt obligated to watch the debate (kind of like going to the doctor to get a shot) but then as it progressed, I felt better and better about it. At this point, McCain's performance has just demonstrated that he is a bitter man who doesn't really know what he is talking about. Although Obama seemed tired to me (but who wouldn't be), I applauded him as he stood his ground, calmly explained his positions in detail and repeated his information after some bizarre slings from his opponent.

Obama finally said what needed to be said, and when he said that the subject of Ayers said more about McCain than anything else, I positively cheered.

[Colette]

That was me. I hope my info got through because I noticed too late that the spaces were blank....

[Colette]

I didn't watch it because I couldn't stand to look at you-know-who. I caught up later, and I wasn't surprised. What DID surprise me though was that McCain was stupid enough to bring up Ayers; I really thought he was grandstanding and would not bring it up after all. It's clear, once again, that he is not fit to be leader of anything. Obama, on the other hand, in stark contrast, is totally fit to be the president of the U.S.

[Christina]

Sen. Obama was a class act as usual! Sen. Obama showed people of all ages that even though there will always be idiots (McCain) in the world, you don't have to react with violence, sarcasm, or disrespect.

I hope every teacher in America shows this debate to his/her students.

Never let anyone take you off course of your goals and dreams is what our family discussed last night.

Tara, thank you for such a detailed post.