The Debate #1

Meh.  Didn't watch it.  Haven't seen much "analysis" of it.  From what little I've heard so far, you'd think Obama stopped about 2 minutes in, picked his nose and flicked a giant green booger onto the camera lens, and then mooned poor old Jim Lehrer.

Two things.  First, the election was beginning to look a lot like a blowout, and that means there's a greatly diminished opportunity for the cable and network guys to sell ad time to anybody but the campaigns.  So you can insert your favorite Horse Race meme here.

Secondly - the day before yesterday, Willard was a full-time candidate; he was a full-time candidate last nite; and he's a full-time candidate again today.  Obama has another gig that keeps him pretty busy.

I'll give the Press Poodles credit for one thing - Chuck Todd (of all people -and I'm paraphrasing) said this: in a re-election debate, the challenger gets to paint a nice big flowery picture of how he thinks it oughta be, while the Prez has to show us what the reality of being POTUS actually looks like.

Finally, here's a quickie from Andrea Seabrook at Decode DC:

The incessant, yammering analysis of all these post-game shows is meaningful only in this way -- everyone else in the media watches it. What you see in that gum-flapping, jabber-jaws hour after the debate is the media talking to the media about what the media thought of the debate. Over time, they will come to agreement, and by tomorrow morning, they'll let you know what YOU should think about it.
Have a good night, folks.

In light of some pretty heavy freak-outs coming from people who seem to be solid Obama supporters - eg: Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz, Andrew Sullivan - here's something to think about:  Obama is patient.  His whole time in office, he's "left himself open" to attack.  He's let the other side take shots.  He's done everything he can to mollify and accommodate his opposition, and he "just gives it away every fuckin' time".  And yet, after all that terrible performance, somehow he's kickin' the other guys' asses all over the parkin' lot.

Here's a little tip - watch a clip or two of Ali in his prime.  The fight against Cleveland Williams has always been a favorite of mine.

Ali jabs and backs off - dancing, back-pedalling, jabbing, side-stepping.  It goes on for a round and a half.  And then at about 5:15 - boom.  It's like Williams got used to following Ali around, and Ali just had to wait for the right time to plant his right foot and go off on him.  And then it all started over, and then boom again. And again and again and again.

Here's hoping it works out just like that for Willard (seen here in the black trunks).