The First Presidential Debate

While I realize I am spending the entire weekend judging debates, I figured I couldn't let the Obama-McCain matchup slip through the cracks. The first presidential debate took place last night from Oxford, MS and as might have been predicted, this was certainly no game-changer.

First, my notes to McCain:

• You're old, and sometimes people associate old with grumpy. You certainly did not separate the two of those image memes last night, and with every smug grin and every shake of the head as if you had just been punched in the jowl, you made it seem like Obama was really getting under your skin. I'm sure he was, but you don't get to let that show.
• You were aggressive in the debate, and that's the first time we've seen it. First, congratulations. You found the kick in your step you've needed for months. However, I'll warn you: at the beginning of the primary season you had to hold back because otherwise you'd get mad, go off on a rant, and offend some folks. If you get too comfortable with new-aggressive-McCain, you're screwed. Maintain your nice-guy persona.
• Get some new catch phrases. This has 2 meanings: (1) don't steal Obama's and try to bend them to fit your image...it doesn't work. (2) repeating the same things over and over again (i.e. "what Obama doesn't understand," "bracelet," "Main Street," etc.) is oboxious.
• Content-wise, you evaded a number of questions and on the truth-o-meter, you lose. FactCheck.org this morning did an analysis of the debate, and you distorted the facts far more often.
  

Now to Obama:

• What happened, man? Your niche in this campaign is that you're a brilliant rhetor, but we didn't see that last night. You stuttered through your responses and allowed McCain to take control of the tone of the debate as a result.
• Content-wise, you nailed it. You did a good job answering questions directly and held your ground when McCain attempted to challenge you. Whether or not this will matter is yet unclear.
• You play a good defensive game. Given that voters are looking for something that isn't Bush, I think you missed a lot of opportunities to play offense.

Overall, I'd give both candidates a B+. While expectations were lowered, they still fell short of the mark. However, expectations aside, it was still a great debate.

Stumble Upon

So a few days ago I found a pretty cool web app. I'm probably the last to know about it, but in case I'm not, it's called Stumble Upon. Basically, it tracks the types of websites you like based on information you've given it, as well as your browsing history.

Once you've downloaded the application, there is a button on your browser for it. When you click it, it just takes you to a site it thinks you'll like. Granted, it can be wrong. However, if you sit there and click the button a few times, you'll definitely come across something you like.

It's especially helpful when you're in your office trying to procrastinate. You can click it all day long and see some of the most useful or the most useless websites in cyberland. You can also rate the websites or store them in a cache that allows you to visit them or share them with others.

Like I said, perhaps this isn't new to you. For me it is, and I quite like it.

Dear Sarah Palin

Dear Sarah,

I have to say I've been a little obsessed with you over the past week. I guess it's kind of like when you meet someone at a party and you want to get to know them, so you ask them all sorts of questions to get a basic idea. I've got to say, I now know a lot about you. What I've decided is that while you are certainly a lovely person, I'm not really sure what makes you qualified to be VP. Actually, and don't hate me for saying this, I'm not even sure you were qualified to be the governor of Alaska. Somehow, though, you got elected (I suppose it's not difficult to get 115,000 people to vote for you...I could probably do that).

Here's my deal...you have a couple options. You can either take the role of the far-right conservative Christian to ensure McCain's base. Or you can play yourself as a moderate to earn displaced Hillary voters' hearts. In either case, you're failing. Hillary supporters refuse to vote for someone who tries to play the gender card. They want someone capable of making policies that somewhat align with their political beliefs and you, my friend, are not that person. As for McCain's base, good luck. Most of those people will vote for McCain whether he had chosen you or Pawlenty or the pope. But for any conservative who is on the fence, they'll need assurance that you're capable of being president should something happen to John. My guess is that your experience as PTA president is like being president, except there were no real responsibilities. You can also tout your executive experience...as long as your indiscretions don't get in the way.

About your speech the other night...it did teach Americans a couple things. First, you're capable of reading off a teleprompter. Congratulations...I guess that makes you more qualified than Cindy McCain. Second, it teaches us that you're snarky and unfriendly. Candidate image means a lot, dear. You've not helped that image in a positive way.

Best of luck to you...I liked you a lot more when I didn't know you.

Regards,
Sean