In which certain pros and cons relating to the Presidential aspirants are considered.
Plainly, the major problems faced by Obama are that his Federal experience is slight and that he's never been in the military. He's young like JFK, but he never did PT 109.
McCain on the other hand almost has too much experience. He has experience crashing planes. He has POW experience. He has experience getting on by the skin of his teeth at Annapolis. He has experience with women. He has experience with Charles Keating. He has Senate experience, although a lot has been railing about earmarks and getting little accomplished.
But what of the future? McCain seems like a man of the past. His experience is all mired in the past and it controls the way he view his and our future. His ideas for the future seem to be more of the same. But then he threw a curve tonight (sort of a sop really) saying he'd have the government buy up all these subprime mortgages to keep folks in their homes. It's not clear where that came from, how he would fund it, why he did not make that a point in terms of the rescue plan, etc. It seemed like an opportunistic throwaway dreamed up for the debate. I guess we'll have to see if this amounts to anymore than Bush's compassionate conservatism.
For all his lack of experience, Obama is clearly lighter on his feet. He projects a calm, measured approach to issues. He also has energy and clear potential--something sorely lacking with McCain.
It's as if McCain wants to re-fight Vietnam and Obama wants to get us into a troubled but interesting 21st Century.
On balance, I think, I hope and I pray: Game Over!