Post-Debate Thread

by Jonathan Singer [courtesy of MyDD]

A few initial impressions. First, and most important, John McCain failed to make the most of this opportunity -- one of his last -- to fundamentally change the direction of this race. Nothing, and I mean nothing, occurred tonight that will put McCain back in the driver's seat of this campaign, let alone help him retake a lead.

Beyond that, McCain had some serious optics problems during the debate. McCain's lurking in the background was truly Cheney-esque, and that's just not a good likeness for the GOP nominee. And McCain's extreme derisiveness towards Barack Obama, unwilling to call him by name, instead only calling him "that one," seriously undercuts the notion that McCain can be a cool operator on the world stage. Note also that Obama's jokes did connect with the audience -- he got a nice chuckle towards the end of the debate when he said that Michelle could easily list all of the things he doesn't know -- while the only laugh McCain earned during all of his botched jokes over the course of the debate was from Tom Brokaw.

As for memorable exchanges, Obama speaking about his mother stands out in particular, though this retort to McCain, which Josh caught, was highly effective as well.

Again, a marginal win for Obama, or perhaps a draw -- either of which represents a loss for McCain considering that the window to change the direction of this race is closing. What did you think?