Obama Wins 1st Presidential Debate

Last night, 57 million Americans tuned into the debate. One of the biggest questions was whether or not John McCain would actually show up. McCain had created some drama when he "temporarily suspended" his campaign on Wednesday evening, in order to go to Washington to lead the financial crisis resolution concerning the bailout. He had canceled his appearance on David Letterman, which ended up being a huge mistake. Letterman mocked McCain's "urgent" excuse for his cancellation, as McCain ended up not leaving for DC until Thursday afternoon.

Fortunately, McCain did decide to join Barack Obama on stage at "Ole Miss", to debate on what was supposed to cover Foreign Policy. However, given the financial crisis, it was almost certain that Jim Lehrer would ask both candidates regarding their positions on the bailout.

Both candidates got in some shots. McCain was able to force a majority of the economic segment of the debate on earmarks, which quite frankly is not an Economy Policy by any means. Obama was able to demonstrate his judgment and knowledge in Foreign Policy. The winning punch by Obama came on the judgement of the Iraq War.

OBAMA: And so John likes -- John, you like to pretend like the war started in 2007. You talk about the surge. The war started in 2003, and at the time when the war started, you said it was going to be quick and easy. You said we knew where the weapons of mass destruction were. You were wrong.

You said that we were going to be greeted as liberators. You were wrong. You said that there was no history of violence between Shiite and Sunni. And you were wrong. And so my question is...

... of judgment, of whether or not -- of whether or not -- if the question is who is best-equipped as the next president to make good decisions about how we use our military, how we make sure that we are prepared and ready for the next conflict, then I think we can take a look at our judgment.

A majority of political analysts are declaring a tie between the two candidates. But given that Barack Obama is the younger challenger, and supposedly not as experienced on Foreign Policy as John McCain, the win by virtue goes to Obama.

Obama was invoking the spirit of John F. Kennedy Jr., as to the audience of Independents or swing voters, they were reassured on the question of whether or not Obama could be Commander-in-Chief. McCain failed to push his meme that Obama would be a risky choice. and by that failed argument, it's clear that Obama has won the first debate.

In a USA Today/Gallup Poll, the results are also clear that more voters saw Obama as wining the debate, regardless of who they were voting for.


What's more interesting is that more voters had a favorable opinion of Obama's capability as President, than John McCain.