THE Final debate . . . won by Joe the Plumber?

Photo Credit: Jae C Hong/AP

By l.t. Dravis

HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY, Hempstead, New York – Wednesday, October 15, 2008 – Let’s answer the first question first . . . did Senator McCain say anything in this, the final debate of the 2008 presidential campaign, to change his position in the polls?

No.

The second question . . . did Senator Obama say anything in this debate to change his position in the polls?

No.

So, what happened?

Senator John McCain started out talking about the anger of American voters but he spent most of the debate showing his anger toward Senator Obama . . . as if McCain is more against Obama becoming President than he is for McCain becoming President.

In response to Obama’s point about McCain policies being the same as the Bush policies, McCain said, “Senator Obama, I’m not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago.”

Senator Obama apologized for confusing McCain with George W. Bush but pointed out it was hard to tell the difference because McCain voted so often with Bush policies.

John McCain attacked, attacked, and then attacked some more, working hard, playing catch up, trying his best to bad-mouth Barack Obama out of his lead in the polls. McCain was clearly angry and sounded petulant as he worked through his litany of complaints about Senator Obama and his campaign.

When McCain brought the old Weatherman Bill Ayres into the debate, CNN audience reaction dropped dramatically . . . making it clear that the ‘guilt-by-association’ tactic used so often by McCain and Palin may well have backfired.

Obama simply explained the Ayres relationship for what it was: He served on a board with William Ayres along with a number of other people like the President of the Chicago Tribune and the President of Northwestern University and that was that.

The McCain campaign failed to ask and answer an important question: On a day when the Dow Jones average dropped more than 700 points, were people watching this debate really concerned about Senator Obama’s ‘relationship’ with a man who committed crimes when Obama was eight years old?

Though he tried to explain his health care plan through gritted teeth, McCain did not say anything specific to convince anyone that his plan was superior to the Obama plan.

While Senator McCain rolled his eyes and scowled, Senator Obama calmly detailed his health care plan and assured voters that the McCain claim that the Obama health care plan fines small business and individuals was totally false.

McCain gave us a number of platitudes about how we ‘have to improve education’ and ‘we need to encourage businesses’ but he didn’t say anything specific about what he would do as President to resolve any of the domestic or foreign issues we face as a nation . . . so there probably won’t be a shift in the McCain poll numbers as a result of this debate.

While Senator McCain was busy trying to score ideological points to please the Republican base, Senator Obama talked about how his economic plan would create jobs, eliminate penalties for early withdrawals from IRA and KEOGH accounts, increase federal assistance to cities and states, and postpone foreclosures for ninety days.

By the way, what am I talking about when I say that ‘Joe the plumber’ won the debate?

I'm talking about Joe Wurzelbacher (referred to as Joe Wurzberger by John McCain), a plumber who caught up with Barack Obama recently at a rally in Ohio to express his concerns about how Obama’s tax policies might get in the way of his ability to successfully buy the company he worked for.

McCain used ‘Joe the plumber’ to accuse Senator Obama of proposing tax increases and a health care plan that would prevent working men and women from becoming entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, the fact checkers have proven that the Obama tax and health care plans do nothing to increase the cost of doing business for the ‘Joe the plumbers’ of this country.

Who spent more time attacking in tonight’s debate?

Eighty percent of voters surveyed by CNN said John McCain spent more time attacking while only 7% said Obama spent more time attacking.

And did the attacks help or hurt the candidates?

According to a CBS poll of uncommitted voters, 53% said Obama won, 24% said the candidates tied, while 22% said McCain won.

I’m reminded of the infamous Al Gore/George W. Bush debate where Gore lost the edge with a sigh; in fact, I’m thinking that McCain lost all three 2008 presidential debates because of affect . . . the scowls, the eye rolls, the grumpy grunts.

And now, I’m wondering, did John McCain appear 'Presidential' tonight or did he remind you of the grumpy old man next door who used to shout at you to get off his lawn?

Huh?

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