I confess that I actually found yesterday's debate extremely boring (after looking forward to it all day, I actually wound up dozing off toward the end). I was watching MSNBC, so no undecided voter monitor (next time I'll watch CNN, that sounds cool!), and was offline, so no instapunditry from the blogs.
The moment where it became clear to me that Obama had to be winning, very soundly because McCain was so completely tone deaf to where the questions were coming from, is a moment that I've seen no reporting on today.
I'm referring to the question posed by "a child of the Depression, 78-year-old Fiorra from Chicago." She asked:
Since World War II, we have never been asked to sacrifice anything to help our country, except the blood of our heroic men and women. As president, what sacrifices -- sacrifices will you ask every American to make to help restore the American dream and to get out of the economic morass that we're now in?
McCain responded with his spending freeze concept. Freeze everything except defense and some related items. Cut back on govt programs that people like and boom, there you have it, sacrifice. He also went on some more about earmarks and how much money can be saved by analyzing spending to make sure it's not being done in a corrupt, and therefore inefficient manner (ironically, his shining example of spending that was being done in a corrupt and inefficient manner, at least before McCain came to the rescue, was -- drumroll -- defense spending, so the exemption of defense spending from the spending freeze is kind of interesting). For good measure he mentioned the so-called overhead projector as well.
But I digress, because it wasn't the internal logic (or lack thereof) of his answer that really bowled me over, but the answer in its entirety, which missed the mark so profoundly.
Then, having (I believe) completely missed where the question was coming from, he then changed the subject further, returning to the previous question (on prioritizing spending) to reiterate that he would refuse to prioritize:
And, by the way, I want to go back a second.
Look, we can attack health care and energy at the same time. We're not -- we're not -- we're not rifle shots here. We are Americans. We can, with the participation of all Americans, work together and solve these problems together.
Frankly, I'm not going to tell that person without health insurance that, "I'm sorry, you'll have to wait." I'm going to tell you Americans we'll get to work right away and we'll get to work together, and we can get them all done, because that's what America has been doing.
OK, so in response to a question that was really about the moment we are at right now (Fiorra was asking, basically in so many words, what WE CAN DO FOR OUR COUNTRY, something so many of us have been desperately wondering since 2001), McCain responded with an answer that was about WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU (or rather, what it can't do, since he's all about cutting programs indiscriminately, then turning on a dime to emphasize his faith in Americans' ability to "work together and solve" (goodness knows how) health care and energy at the same time).
And then, of course, came Obama's response, which I will quote in full because HE understood the question, and he nailed it.
You know, a lot of you remember the tragedy of 9/11 and where you were on that day and, you know, how all of the country was ready to come together and make enormous changes to make us not only safer, but to make us a better country and a more unified country.
And President Bush did some smart things at the outset, but one of the opportunities that was missed was, when he spoke to the American people, he said, "Go out and shop."
That wasn't the kind of call to service that I think the American people were looking for.
And so it's important to understand that the -- I think the American people are hungry for the kind of leadership that is going to tackle these problems not just in government, but outside of government.
And let's take the example of energy, which we already spoke about. There is going to be the need for each and every one of us to start thinking about how we use energy.
I believe in the need for increased oil production. We're going to have to explore new ways to get more oil, and that includes offshore drilling. It includes telling the oil companies, that currently have 68 million acres that they're not using, that either you use them or you lose them.
We're going to have to develop clean coal technology and safe ways to store nuclear energy.
But each and every one of us can start thinking about how can we save energy in our homes, in our buildings. And one of the things I want to do is make sure that we're providing incentives so that you can buy a fuel efficient car that's made right here in the United States of America, not in Japan or South Korea, making sure that you are able to weatherize your home or make your business more fuel efficient.
And that's going to require effort from each and every one of us.
And the last point I just want to make. I think the young people of America are especially interested in how they can serve, and that's one of the reasons why I'm interested in doubling the Peace Corps, making sure that we are creating a volunteer corps all across this country that can be involved in their community, involved in military service, so that military families and our troops are not the only ones bearing the burden of renewing America.
That's something that all of us have to be involved with and that requires some leadership from Washington.
I thought this was a remarkable moment. Even though the pundits are completely ignorning it, I find it hard to imagine that it was not a key turning point for at least some undecided voters who are (still!) trying to grasp the fundamental differences between the paths that these candidates represent.