Debate Rundown - by Peter Suderman | culture11 - the confabulum

We did get a better sense of the candidates’ physical presences.
Obama, as always, appeared sophistacted, urbane: He held the mic in that delicate, refined way of final-level American Idol contestants, and constantly seemed to be holding an imaginary pen in the air and trying to visualize it. He will solve America’s energy crisis with telekinesis.
McCain, on the other hand, came off as less the high-toned maverick and more the self-satisfied frat-boy goof: He started several of his answers with an Igor-via-Beavis-and-Butthead chuckle: heh-heh, heh-heh. Sorry dude, not funny.

One thing that’s clear from this debate is how little there is to John McCain and his campaign. He’s running on a few, vague issues – tax cuts, an aggressive response to Russia in specific and terrorism in general, something about energy – and a whole lot of non-policy fluff: America’s inherent strength and goodness, Obama’s inexperience, scorn for Washington insiders. But mostly, he’s running on a platform anchored by a single assumption: that John McCain is inherently, singularly qualified to lead the country, and, subsequently, deserving of the office of president. McCain views the White House as something to which he is unequivocally entitled. Beyond that, nothing else matters. Indeed, if you hold this view, nothing else would.

Obama, on the other hand, despite all the criticism and complaints that he’s running a personality cult rather than an issues-based campaign, is running a much more expansive campaign. It’s about Obama, yes, and Obama’s singular personality, but it’s also about Obama’s specific plans & proposed policies: on health care, on the environment& concerns about energy, on the economy, and on foreign policy. I don’t agree with much of what Obama proposes; he shares a fundamentally (urgh) different view of how the economy works and how it should work. But the plain fact is that Obama is running a smarter, more detailed, more thoughtful and relevant campaign than McCain – and it’s showing at the polls.