Booyah.

Some observations from & thoughts provoked by last nights debate.


For one of the first times in this election period I caught a glimpse of what people see in Barack Obama. Its a struggle to get there, but I made it. After listening to him artfully tip-toe around the questions and accusations he faced, it is clear why his poll numbers are higher than McCain's. He is a very talented speaker and effortlessly draws you into his powerfully deceptive verbal mazes. It's no secret that the majority of Americans are vastly un-educated on the candidates and the issues. It's sad that we don't have a single news channel that is unbiased. No matter where you get your information; Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, a local or national newspaper or even the Internet you're getting a slanted version of the truth. For many Americans it is too arduous a task to sift through left and right biases to find the facts, so the extent of their knowledge is the media's output. If you take away what you know about the candidates and their issues thus far you would be surprised how differently Obama appears. Words roll off his tongue with ease and his steadfast emotions lead you to believe this man could and should be the next president of the United States. Unless you have proper background information on both Barack and his presidential plans you can't decipher fact from fluff.


One thing I still don't understand after following the election for months on end and watching each of the 4 debates is the concern over John McCain's "temperament". The media loves to depict Barack Obama as a level-headed, calm & rational debater, while they paint John McCain as a fervent, crazy, irrational loon. Take a minute and think about people that have influenced your life. Were those people calm & disconnected or engaging and passionate? I don't see how passion for America and the issues is a negative characteristic.


Going along with the theme of people not knowing the issues at hand - let's talk about taxes. Barack Obama talks about raising taxes for the richest 5% of Americans and giving a break to 95%. Sounds great for the middle class, right? Unfortunately Senator Obama is leaving a major statistic by the wayside. What percentage of Americans pay taxes? 100%? Cold . . . 85%? warmer . . . 70%? warmer . . . 60%. Ding ding ding! Only 60% of Americans pay taxes. Simple math tells us that if 95% of the American people are getting a tax break from Obama . . and only 60% pay taxes to begin with . . that leaves 40% of Americans that don't pay taxes receiving money from Obama's tax plan. 40% of illegal immigrants, non-working Americans and others who neglect to pay taxes in America will BENEFIT from Obama's tax provision. This has yet to be brought up to Obama, but I don't doubt he'd have a way of back peddling and skipping around his tax plan's flaws to con more Americans into thinking he's on track.

Enough of policy . . a few random observations.

What are the odds that both presidential candidates would be left handed? Yeah - I noticed.

Since when does Obama wear an American flag pin?

"You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin. Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq War, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest" - Senator Barack Obama

Does anyone else feel awkward when one candidate is attacked and they laugh and shake their head as they write notes for the rebuttal? I wish I knew their thoughts . .

I heard someone comment that Barack Obama has to be even-tempered in debates because if he starts to raise his voice or get emotional toward John McCain it will fuel racist comments regarding "black tempers". They went onto say that the reason Obama stays calm is so his critics can't say he went "ghetto" and lost his head. Wow.