False Sense of Maturity

Like many people, I watched the first presidential debate between McCain and Obama last night.  Since I watched it in a crowded room filled with lots of crosstalk and a moderate amount of drinking, I wasn’t able to focus on everything, but I saw enough to make some observations.

With McCain being down in the polls, and already losing the debate about whether to debate, you have to figure he needed a strong performance to close the gap.  I was sort of expecting Obama to dominate, but I think McCain mostly held his own.  However, the night was at best a tie for McCain, and that’s simply not good enough for the trailing candidate.

The night was shorter on memorable moments than I had hoped.  All that stands out today is the stupid competition on who had the better bracelet, and moderator Jim Lehrer telling them to look at each other when talking, which was degrading and childish to all parties involved.  The one issue that I though Obama did much better on was the argument over negotiations.  McCain insisted preconditions were necessary, but I don’t think there was any logic behind his point.

Hopefully the next debate will be more interesting.  They both seemed to get pretty angry last night, but never to the point where an entertaining shouting match ensued.  Now that would be fun to watch.