Tuesday nights debate

So, last night as I watched the portion of the debate I could stay awake for, I noticed that McCain loosened up a bite. I mean, it still looked like there was a McCain perceived invisible wall between himself and Obama, but for the most part the town hall format had a chance to really play to his strength of talking to "ordinary everyday folks". But something happened during the debate, because when I woke up this morning and checked CNN.com, I saw a huge link that read "McCain refers to Obama as 'That one'." The first thing that ran through my mind was, wow, how completely and utterly disrespectful. This comes after Gov. Palin tried to call Obama a terrorist (William Ayers and Sen. Obama worked on an a university board together seeking a multimillion educational grant), called him un-American and non-patriotic. To have the nerve to treat another person like this, especially considering how unwarranted this all is, is just flat out stupid. Either McCain thought "Oh man, this joke is going to kill" or he really is that mean and surly and disrespectful. I think what happened was, McCain understands that he greatly underestimated Obama. And not just politically, but as a person. I feel that some of the attacks, even those made by Hillary during the primaries, where aimed at making him look like a weak, naive person, not an unsuitable leader. Maybe McCain is finding out what Hillary found out, never underestimate your opponent. You see it so many times all over the world; the kid who comes from a poor background goes onto Harvard and upends the social elite with hard work and dedication, the war veteran who lost his legs serving this country is able to regain his dignity through grit, pain and never giving in, the single mother working 2 jobs to make ends meet finally getting her chance in the business world and succeeds with flying colors. And my favorite, the team no one believed in, the team that barely makes the playoff, goes into the championship game and rips the overwhelming favorite's heart right out of its chest. The Giants in last year superbowl, NC State over Phi Slama Jama, the Red Sox coming break from a 0-3 deficit to beat the Yankees, Indiana University stopping Duke in the sweet 16.

And in a way, that's happening here. Obama can into as the unknown, relatively green senator from a big state, but with little "Washington" leadership and experience. The GOP should have known what it was dealing with when the more "seasoned" democrat nominees started to fall by the way side. Edwards, Biden, Richardson, and last but not any less surprising, Hillary. He battled and beat all of these veterans even though he was new to the party. Truthfully speaking, I had him locked as my candidate of choice (only slightly ahead of Edwards and Hillary), but I thought this wasn't his year. He is politically young, the tone of the country had been so negative that I thought people would take his platform of hope and change cynically and dismiss him as an unrealistic optimist. But again, don't underestimate your opponent. After the battle with Hillary, the GOP thought "oh great, we'll rip him to shreds like we did with Kerry". They failed to make their attacks specific; he's weak (Kerry), he wants to raise taxes and destroy the economy (just name a democratic nominee), he's unpatriotic (Kerry, and everyone that has ever challenged the Bush doctrine). Once these didn't work they tried to attack his personal life; his wife's a radical, he's to liberal, he hangs out with terrorist, he can't be trusted, he's an elitist, he doesn't understand us.

But these aren't working either, and I think the GOP is kinda freaking out about it. Which would lead you to believe that maybe they really don't have any answers. Maybe they are the ones hoping for a little on the job training, something they accuse Obama of all the time. Tuesday night just proved to me that McCain and the GOP are absolutely blindsided and flabbergasted at how Obama hasn't broken down. Everytime they attack him, he comes right back at them, and HARD. I think that's why some many people think his campaign has taken a negative turn, because they are not used to seeing a democrat fight back like this. I'll admit I was one of the people who thought Obama should stick to the "all positive all the time" routine that he had with Hillary, but now I'm starting to see that the GOP is a different animal. He's doing what he needs to do, and that's not just being a taking non-sh*t presidential nominee, it's showing America that "Hey, I'm here to stay and I want to help this country, no matter what the other side of the aisle may think of me".

The more and more I listen to Obama and McCain speak, the more I realize how much is at stake. Before the first debate, Obama was behind in the polls, not by a lot, but by enough of a margin that you think they would at least lean on the proverbial panic button. But he stayed calm, upped his message and tenor, and fought his way back into the fold and eventually took the lead. However, as soon as the lead started to slip away from McCain, his campaign became erratic, it was almost like he lost track of what his "Straight Talk Express" was all about.

But, that's the nature of politics, just like it's the nature of life. If you willfully, purposely, and angrily undermine and underestimate someone, don't be surprised you bite off more than you can chew and you choke on your own egotism, it's happened before....