Last night marked the final debate between Barack Obama and John McCain. I jotted down my thoughts as I watched. For the full experience, cut out this article and read it while you watch a recording of the debate. Bonus points if you actually do that and are not my mother.
9:10 - A feisty discussion on the traditional Democratic Achilles heel: taxes. Obama sticks to his "95 percent of people will get a tax cut under my plan" mantra. McCain is extremely aggressive, in keeping with his do-or-die situation.
9:15 - Bob Schieffer joins a long line of doomed debate moderators bravely trying to pin down the candidates on the inevitable cuts they will have to make because of the huge expense of the federal bailout plan. Neither, of course, will name specifics, fearing to offend constituencies which have come to depend on the money. This question will never be answered point-blank by any candidate within a month of Election Day, ever. They straight up ignore Schieffer. McCain names a few subsidies and tariffs, which is at least something, but they are not really government programs.
9:20 - McCain finally responds to the "just like Bush" charge. If he had confronted it that aggressively two months ago, the polls might have been a lot different today.
9:22 - The look on McCain's face while he waits for Obama's response, pen in hand, is like a bird of prey waiting to strike. He has never been this aggressive before, and it's alternately effective and off-putting.
9:26 - McCain repeats his old canard that if Obama had agreed to do town hall meetings with him back in June, the campaign would not have taken such a negative turn. It's a bizarre argument. But McCain's attacks on the Obama campaign's negativity are forcefully argued.
9:35 - It all comes out: Ayers, ACORN, "the destruction of the fabric of American democracy." Obama tries to downplay the connections, then shifts to his more respectable associates. The way McCain tackles this topic makes it seem almost cathartic for him.
9:43 - If I hear one more time about how great it is that Sarah Palin has a special needs child, I'm going to scream.
9:53 - Obama, who has seemed off his game in the face of McCain's strong showing, slips back into his usual self-assured form in responding to McCain's attack on a Colombian trade agreement. "Actually, I understand it pretty well." Cool as a cucumber again.
9:59 - "Joe the Plumber" is the most catered-to voter in American history, beating out Joe Sixpack and Hockey Mom.
10:06 - Ah, a question on the Supreme Court, where both candidates must pretend they would consider nominating a justice who disagrees with them on Roe v. Wade. Never, never, never.
10:24 - Oh sh-t, he mentioned Palin's kid again. Sorry everyone, I can't watch the rest of the debate as I've thrown a brick through my TV.
My verdict? McCain had his strongest debate showing so far. In the first half, he was dominant, but Obama regained his cool as the discussion moved into the last half-hour or so. If McCain's other debate performances had been this good, he'd likely be a lot closer to Obama in the polls. McCain's forceful separation of himself from the president ("Senator Obama, I am not George W. Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run 4 years ago.") will be the clip of the night and will be quoted by every newspaper and pundit in the next three days. The McCain campaign has reason to smile tonight, but it may be too little, too late.
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Michael Sherry is a senior majoring in political science. He can be reached at Michael.Sherry@tufts.edu.
