The Final Debate

Well, the final debate has finished. Reading the press it seems that the consensus of opinion is that McCain performed well - maybe his best yet. Obama held his own and was his usual calm self.  The instant polls mark it a victory to Obama though, as they have will all the previous debates.

But in contrast to those who thought that McCain had a very strong performance (for instance James Forsyth over at the Coffee House), I though McCain's performance seemed... odd.

He started off looking and sounding nervous, his eyes wide while facing the cameras, his pupils were dilated and he had a noticeably high blink rate.  He was constantly moving about on his chair as he talked.   His first line saying 'Americans are hurting' was the same first line he used at the previous 'Town-Hall' debate which negated any sincerity the line might have.  He then managed to mangle the rest of that opening statement.

I thought he sounded weak on healthcare, compared to Obama's direct and numbered plan. He knows this is a strong area for Obama and should have moved swiftly away from it.  It was interesting watching the debate on CNN to see just how high Obama's approval ratings were form a panel of voters when discussing healthcare.

On some issues he sounded crotchety, on others like he was making too big an effort to be animated. When he smiled at Obama's responses it looked like it was through gritted teeth. Indignation over the negative campaigning came across as false and hollow, especially given what's come out of the McCain camp recently.

I thought his 'share the wealth' attack was misplaced and parried well.   Even if it might play well with Republicans, no swing voter is going to object to the very rich paying a little more tax to fund cuts for the remaining 95% of the population.   McCain didn't talks about the 'middle classes', where as Obama's very first statement directly referred to them.  His 'Joe the Plumber' attack fell flat when Obama pointed out that no small business would pay healthcare fines, and that larger business has an obligation to their employees over health care provision.

It was a missed chance, for Obama did not have his best performance.  Apart from healthcare, many answers seems to meander.  Often it was clear that Obama was starting sentences with no idea what he was actually going to say in them.  Other sentences started on one track only to abruptly stop or change direction.  But when he was weak or dithering, McCain didn't spot it and go in for the kill.

Overall, I felt this was a clear win for Obama and a huge missed chance for McCain. I thought McCain looked like a desperate man and produced a very strange performance. I said yesterday that it might be the last chance saloon for McCain.  Well, he missed that last chance...