Still Undecided After Final Debate

The presidential debate last night was the most revealing dialogue that we have seen to date. The moderator Bob Shieffer did a fine job, and if I may say so, looked somewhat presidential himself.

I liked the format, with the two candidates sitting at the table with plenty of time to answer the questions. This time McCain looked at Obama when he criticized. Obama smiled at McCain's attacks the way you do when your aging Uncle Jimmy starts his crazy rants.

I thought Obama squandered some great opportunities to put our minds at ease about some of the dark allegations about his past associates (e.g., Rev Wright, Resco) but he did credibly discuss his role as Counsel with ACORN which has been flogged by the conservative talk shows ad nauseum.

He seemed calm and collected, while McCain seemed furtive, nervous, robotic and a bit giggly. (Not good presidential qualities). This performance was unsettling to me, because this very morning, I had resolved to vote for McCain on the sole basis of his plan to allow $10,000 in distributions from IRA's to be free from taxes for two years.

Now, I am undecided again. Maybe I should write-in for Bob Shieffer.

In the WSJ today, Danial Henninger writes a great column (McCain's Katrina)
He draws an excellent analogy between the FEMA response to Katrina and McCain's impotence in the "Hurricane Fannie" affair.
However, I think he omitted the most damaging part of the story. When House and Senate representatives added another billion dollars in earmarks to the "emergency" bailout bill, they demonstrated the worst of cynical "business as usual' Washington politics.

It was McCain's moment to "name names" of the miscreant earmarkers and to demonstrate his skill at getting things done. Instead of being the tough crusader against such pork barrel spending, McCain meekly voted for the bill without even commenting on it.
For me, this Homer Simpson moment erased much of McCain's credibility as the self-annointed guy who can fix things.

The Sox are going down in flames, the Patriots glory days are history, and the economy is on a feeding tube. The only good news is that this effing election is almost over.