Obama vs McCain II: The Town Hall Debate

Some thoughts on tonight's debate. I need to start by saying John McCain is my friend. He told me I was his friend 16 times tonight.

Oh, and the bill formerly known as the "Bailout Plan" will now be referred to by both parties as the "Rescue Package". Ummm, O.K. then.

What we got tonight was quite a bit of the same material we waded through in round one. I'm glad Obama brought up the fact that we were running a surplus when Clinton left office. I thought that needed to be mentioned. We Democrats CAN have a balanced budget while spending responsibly.

On healthcare, McCain said it's a responsibility, Obama said it's a right. I've expressed my opinion before, our current system doesn't work, and McCain is out of touch if he thinks every person he gives a $5000 rebate to is going to go out and buy health insurance. It just won't happen. Fact is, some people aren't responsible, but that doesn't mean their children should be penalized for it.

What should we sacrifice? I enjoyed Barack's response to McCain's spending freeze. The scalpel versus hatchet was a good analogy. Cut out the programs that don't work. Keep the ones that do.

I'd like to take the time to think through the "Drill, baby drill!" mantra. To take this to it's logical conclusion, it should be "Drill, baby drill. Burn, baby burn. Pollute, baby polute." We have so many options available to us for energy. I thought Obama was brilliant in stating that no one knew how we were going to get to the moon in ten years when JFK declared it, but the nation was determined. We can get off our need for oil if we put our minds to it.

McCain referred to Barack as "That one." I didn't like it. Not one bit.

The real loser of round two was Tom Brokaw. Absolutely no control over the debate. But the format stunk. These two need to be able to respond to each other and butt heads. We never get to see a conversation continue to conclusion. My guess is that Obama would keep his cool, and we would watch the spectacle of McCain really losing his temper. Perhaps round three should be a cage match.