There's a difference between us & them- and it really came through in the debate last night.
By us, I mean involved progressives who have been following the campaign-watch cable news, read the paper, check poll numbers daily, comment on blogs--even write the occasional diary.
By them, I mean the average voter. They don't do many of these things. Some may never have even seen Barack Obama speak before or never seen him debate.
Frankly, we don't matter right now--and we're wrong.
What would we have liked to see from Obama last night? Him crushing McCain. Sharp one-liners, angry denunciations, gotcha moments, rights, lefts, upper cuts until McCain lay on the political canvass knocked-out with more than a month to go before the election.
Maybe at the end of the debate they could haul his lying ass off to jail like in "A Few Good Men"...
When I was watching the MSNBC post-debate coverage this really struck me. Even Rachel Maddow seemed disappointed that Obama seemed to let McCain off the hook. Matthews was frustrated. Many of the partisans seemed frustrated--I was frustrated.
But here's the thing--we're wrong.
The polling is clear, Obama won last night. He won big. And he won on the subject matter considered to be McCain's strength. Foreign policy was the only thing keeping McCain in this thing. And now, that's gone.
This election is about change.
McCain talked about the past, he talked about the surge, he talked about earmarks, he talked about Iraq and he used a lot of names most people had never heard of. He seemed old and grumpy.
None of those things says change.
Obama said I agree with John, Iraq was a mistake, I have a bracelet too and we should talk to other country's leaders. He seemed young, fresh, measured-but tough.
That says change, that says victory.
We're all going to have to get used to a new idea--these guys actually know what they're doing & they're good.