Presidential Debate 1 Roundup

Like a Rorschach inkblot test, people seem to see in debates what they want to see based on their personality and how they see the world.

Obama kept talking about George Bush.

McCain kept referring to Obama not knowing enough about how to act in international situations.

Obama slammed McCain several times on his Economic plans, especially when he said, "You're using a hatchet when you need a scalpel", when referring to freezing budgets across the board with exceptions for the military, Veterans and a few other items.

McCain talked about he and Sarah Palin being mavericks and going against the tide and cutting out government pork.

Both pronounced the names of foreign leaders correctly and comfortably which frankly should impress everyone.

Both candidates did fine, kind of like heavyweight boxers or sumo wrestlers, trying not to make a big mistake or give their opponent an opening for a knockout punch. Most viewers believe the candidate they support won the debate.

How about those who are still undecided. I would have guessed they would be split, but a poll run by CBS indicates, that Obama gets the edge. This might be more the momentum of a week that generally favored Obama, but if a tie convinces undecided voters that Obama is the one they want to vote for, that is a very bad sign for the McCain campaign. This would actually be very similar to the impact Ronald Reagan had when he held his own against Jimmy Carter in their last debate. Once people realized Reagan would be OK, they wanted a change and knew their vote for the candidate from the party not in power would be OK.