Obama wins debate, but only because he looked slightly less dead.

The majority of the debate was rather dull, even for politics. Both candidates stuck to their talking points and did little to really justify their positions. There was much talk of main street vs. wall street, taxes vs. spending, how McCain was a Bush clone, how Obama was inexperienced, ect. No one really stuck out their neck or took off the gloves.

But talking points really weren't what this debate came down to. I’ll give this win to Obama because he managed to come across as, if not likable, than at least competent. He also managed to adequately explain away one of the McCain campaign’s major criticisms, that he would sit down with hostile leaders without preconditions. He was able to point out that “without preconditions” did not mean sitting down to tea with these hostile leaders, as McCain had often portrayed the position, but was in fact meeting with them without setting prerequisites.

All in all I would say that this debate is only going to change the minds of those who wanted a reason to change them. Nothing really important was said, no one yelled, no one died, I call for a do-over.

Articles
-http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-campaign_5ssep28,0,1275162.story

-http://www.smh.com.au/news/us-election/each-side-claims-victory-in-debate/2008/09/28/1222540246519.html