Repeat Debate

I am very involved in politics right now and I find almost any political discussion in this election season particularly fascinating. That being said, last night's presidential debate was the most boring hour and a half I wasted on politics all year. And if a person like me who is willing to regularly write a blog on this year's election was bored, I can only imagine how the average American felt about this dreary display.

The dullness of this debate can be attributed in part to how circumscribed Tom Brokaw was as moderator. He was restricted from asking any follow-up questions of the candidates, despite their tendency to give overly-evasive "answers" to almost all questions. Regardless of what was asked, Obama and McCain went through slightly updated talking points from the first debate, uninterrupted. They both came in with agendas and responded to legitimate, specific questions with vague lectures that segued into whatever they wanted to talk about. Brokaw was more correct than I realized at the time when he referred to himself as nothing more than "the hired help."

The other serious problem with this debate was the town hall format. The idea was great, but the fact that it was not a town hall format at all negated the purpose. There were voters sitting in on the debate, but they were allowed a minimal amount of questions and the candidates did not give any of their questions the direct thoughtful answers that they merited.

To conclude, the fact that this debate was so uninteresting means that Obama won. Obama leads in the polls and in a majority of swing states. His only concern is holding that lead for less than four more weeks. His job was to look and sound presidential, exude confidence and poise, and not to screw up.
McCain's job was to shake things up, get Obama out of his comfort zone and bait him into leaving his scripted agenda. McCain was unable to do any of the above. Obama controlled to tempo of the debate and kept it uneventful. This means that his lead will most likely continue to swell as his army of volunteers continues to scour the country for swing voters at a feverish pace far superior to that of McCain's "hired help."