Presidential Debate #2: Who Won, John McCain or Barack Obama?

If Sen. John McCain had had his way on the debates, all of the Presidential debates would have been of the "Town Hall" format like the one America just witnessed, or slept through, as the case may be. As David Gergen of CNN, a veteran of both Republican and Democratic presidential politics said, this presidential debate was a rather nondescript affair.

In my view, neither John McCain or Barack Obama made any "game-changing" gaffes to hurt their campaigns. The closet thing to a gaffe was when Barack Obama made a remark about McCain suggesting Obama was "green behind the ears". Senator, one is either "green" as in inexperienced, or "wet behind the ears" which inplies the same. However, I don't see voters letting a little Bushism deciding their vote. In the post-debate anaysis, most of the pundits panned John McCain for his "that one" referral to Obama.

Alas, neither man scored any "zingers" which could define this increasingly nasty presidential election either. Like a football coach "sitting on a lead" to run out the clock , Barack Obama played it safe and stuck to his gameplan.

For his part, John McCain, who is clearly playing "catch-up", threw a few "Hail Mary" passes, most nowhere near the target, and ran the draw play on third and long. A Lot. With such a tepid response to trailing in all the polls with less than 30 days to go before election day, John McCain might as well punt, or have his "enforcer" Sarah Palin punt.

That's somewhat of a mixed metaphor, I suppose, as Sarah Palin constantly refers to herself as a "hockey Mom" and played basketball in school, but John McCain's seeming strategy of hiding behind Palin's skirt is a sure way to lose the election of Nov. 4.

So, with both John McCain and Barack Obama "playing it safe", who won the latest Presidential debate? America didn't win for sure, but by staying calm Barack Obama seemed "Presidential" while John McCain seemed erratic and scattershot in his attempts to undermine Obama's lead in the polls. McCain's attempts at humor went over like a turd in a punch bowl. The one thing many viewers may take away from McCain's performance is the comment about needing "hairplugs".