[Deckard]

OK, just lost another post, so let's try and recap what I just wrote...

I agree with you Cured about the Republicans ripping into Obama next week far far more than the Dems ripped into McCain this week. The Dems spent a lot of time talking about change and unity, and apart from Biden, not as much on McCain as they might have. Given the way the Republican base appears to have somewhat begrudgingly accepted the reality of McCain rather than enthusiastically championed him, it will be more canny for him to keep the focus on the flaws of Obama. Expect them to run with "Obama is all hype and no trousers and not one of us" and "the world is a dangerous place".

When it comes to the debates later on, I'm far less sure that Obama will get much electoral mileage from those. And that worries me, given how things stand at present. You'll have the homely aw-shucks well-fed veteran hero, prone to almost celebrating his ignorance on certain things, versus the so-called inexperienced, skinny "in-tel-lec-tual" (that word deliberately over-enunciated to make it sound like an alien concept).

If memory serves, Kerry was much more effective than Bush in the debates of 2004. Yet Bush walked away with it. Bush emphasized toughness, he emphasized certainty, and even though Kerry's rebuttals were spot on and demonstrated far better reasoning, it seems that this was more detail than many American viewers/voters needed in a president. They wanted their apple pie, and that's what I fear will happen this year, even moreso than 4 years ago. That demonstrating logical argument and underlying principles come second place to how people will feel.

Also, the international situation could yet swing it to McCain in a big way. I'm still wondering whether Israel plans to go ahead with their strike on Iran before the year is up.