NationRight

Last night’s presidential debate between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain was pretty typical of most presidential debates.  Both candidates were relatively cordial and neither strayed very far from their typical stump speeches and talking points.  This morning, the spin machines are hard at work claiming victory on both sides, but, in the final analysis, Republicans will think McCain won and Democrats will think Obama won.  As ABC’s George Stephanopolous said, “It wasn’t a game changer.”

As always, the target of both nominees is the elusive “undecided voter.”  So, how did it play with them?  As a “decided voter,” I don’t claim to know, but I do believe that they saw a clear distinction between the two candidates.  It should be easy for them to move from “undecided” to “decided” now.

For all his talk of change, Barack Obama spent 90 minutes regurgitating the same liberal Democratic drivel that we have been hearing for most of the last century.  Obama spoke of increasing oversight and regulation, and more government involvement in the “free” market.  He spoke, of course, about socialized health care, pacifism overseas, and massive redistribution of wealth.  He railed against big corporations and their tax “loopholes” and taking jobs overseees.  It left me, and should have left undecideds, with the realization that Obama is just another typical liberal.

Senator McCain, on the other hand, backed up his maverick talk. In fact, at times, he almost sounded schizophrenic!  He talked about all the times he went against his party, but sounded like a Republican doing it.  He railed against big oil but talked of cutting their taxes.  He repeatedly mentioned reaching across the aisle on issues like campaign finance reform and blocking earmark spending.  McCain seems to have made up his own mind on most issues, without falling in line with the Washington crowd or even his own party.

So, why does Obama seem to have exclusive rights to the “change” slogan?  Obama represents 100 years of liberal tax-and-spend Democratic policies, more government involvements in our lives, more entitlement programs for more people; McCain offers independent thinking, decisions made without concern for the most recent polls, and a truly different way of doing things.  How will this play with the undecideds?  I don’t know, but the choice is now clear.