I missed the first part but I heard it didn’t go too well for McCain.

Obama had adequate delivery – much better than I expected. Very disrespectful, the way he refers to his opponent as “John” almost all the time. Still too many uh’s & hesitations. Pretty sharp with the economic questions, if you ignore the fact that his ideas are mostly wrongheaded. His finish was weak & came across as overly critical of America – caring more about what foreigners think of us than National Security.

Oh, and the Messiah’s bracelet stunt looked absurd – he actually had to check & see what the name was.

Unless I missed it at the very beginning, McCain passed up some golden opportunities to tie Obama to the financial mess. Didn’t press Obama hard enough on earmarks or how much money Raines & the others took from Fan. & Fred. He also didn’t call O on anti-Semitic foreign policy advisors, campaign activists coddling Ahmadinejad, etc. Not good. Maybe he’s waiting for the later debates to do this, or maybe he wants Sarah P. to play “bad cop”. JM’s going to need to be more aggressive. The MSM is pinning the economy on Republicans alone, and the debates are the best chance to correct that misconception.

On the plus side, he totally schooled Obama on the Kissinger comments. Not to mention meeting Dinner Jacket without preconditions. Johnny M. obviously has a very thorough knowledge of the Georgia situation. Also, good job mentioning that O never convened the committee that he supposedly led.

Overall, McCain 6/10 and Obama 5.5/10. It reminded me of the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942 – Obama is to USN as McCain is to Imperial Japan. McCain gets the tactical victory b/c of better debating skills overall but does not land a knockout blow. Obama wins strategically because expectations were lower for him & because the media spin in his favor will be a huge boon.

**Important Disclosure** – I listened to it on the radio, so I did not observe body language or expressions. Keep that in mind.