Presidential Debate Three: Obama edges out McCain, but just barely

"I love you, man." "I love you too." Click to enlarge.

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

Our verdict on the third Presidential debate?: Obama edged out McCain, but just barely. . .exactly what he needed to do.

"You didn't tell the American people the truth," Senator John McCain charged. McCain delivered his best debate performance to date. However, his face told the tale. He was blinking at an alarming rate, mugging, and flashing a smile that bordered on a grimace, or even a rictus [1]. At times he seemed to be involuntarily mugging like The Joker.

As always, cool, cerebral, charming, unflappable, and surging ahead in the polls, Obama expertly parried each thrust, and, at times, lobbed a few Molotov cocktails of his own, all the while appearing absolutely Presidential. At the end of the debate, there was little question of who the voters would want to lead America until 2013.

Obama held fire, wisely. Ahead now in every single poll, and in some by 14 points, there was no reason to jump on the ledge in any issue. Obama performed admirably. . .probably his coolest performance in all three debates. But he is on top: he had nothing to win and everything to lose. And he expertly worked that angle. McCain offered him a chance to decimate his running mate Sarah Palin and Obama held back. What could he possibly gain from attacking the wildly popular Palin? Obama effectively diffused the Obama-Palin campaign's unending attempts to link him as some sort of acolyte of college professor and former Weather Underground mastermind William Ayers. A.C.O.R.N. was also mentioned repeatedly by McCain and Obama--rightfully--basically brushed off the association, leaving McCain pounding sand.

Arguably, the key exchange of the debate was when the frustrated McCain finally said in a clearly scripted remark, "Sen. Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago."

Obama fired back and dismissed McCain's claim of political independence from The Administration:

"If I've occasionally mistaken your policies for George Bush's policies, it's because on the core economic issues that matter to the American people - on tax policy, on energy policy, on spending priorities - you have been a vigorous supporter of President Bush," he said.

Senator McCain passed up the chance to say his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, was qualified to become President (and Obama, also wisely, didn't touch it). McCain did praise her performance as governor and expressed admiration for her work on behalf of special needs children (which according to Alaskans is not a given at all).

McCain referred repeatedly to a voter, Joe Wurzelbacher, a plumber from Toledo, Ohio Obama had an exchange with. They both directly spoke to "Joe" several times, and in the end, it went nowhere.

McCain's most critical debate mistake was seeming to dismiss the mother's health exception on the abortion issue. "I am completely supportive of a ban on late-term abortions, partial-birth or otherwise, as long as there's an exception for the mother's health and life, and this did not contain that exception," Obama clearly stated.

McCain sarcastically paid tribute to "the eloquence of Senator Obama. He's (for) health for the mother. You know, that's been stretched by the pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything." "mother's health," he seemed to be saying, "...who cares?" And with that statement, Senator McCain lost virtually every potential swing vote from pro-choice voters.
McCain tried to raise the issue of public financing, but was effortlessly slapped down by Obama. Yes, Obama did go back on his pledge to consult with McCain and hopefully use only public financing in the campaign. While McCain opted for public financing, any possible ethical or moral advantage has been utterly neutralized by the RNC with its massive war chest relentlessly--and indirectly--pumping gushers of money into the McCain campaign.

With only a couple of exceptions, the Presidential campaign is now being waged in battleground states that were solidly Republican in 2004 - states like Virginia, Colorado, and Iowa - and in most of them, Obama holds significant leads in the polls. In the end, this debate changes nothing. It's on to November 4th!

[1] A gaping grimace: "his mouth gaping in a kind of rictus of startled alarm" (Richard Adams). We often think of the rictus as a death-grin.
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