Obama keeps his powder dry
While John McCain threw the kitchen sink at Barack Obama in their final debate, Obama wisely didn't sink to his level


* Ian Williams
*

o guardian.co.uk,
o Thursday October 16 2008 06.41 BST

If Joe the Plumber went for a leak during the presidential debate, he may have missed one of John McCain's faux folksy invocations, but he was sure to get the many others. It was at least a relief from the relentless attempt by McCain's programmers to avoid issues of substance with ad-terrorem attacks on Barack Obama's fleeting acquaintanceship with a former Weatherman.

Obama was probably right in not responding with questions about McCain's relationships with looney pastors like Rod Parsely and John Hagee or his part in the dry run for the present crisis a starring member of the Keating Five. Unless he had backed up such a riposte with a massive negative advertising campaign, no one would have known what he was talking about.

And it would have diminished his effective points about the GOP's negative campaigning, which McCain substantiated so effectively, even as he denied the charges, by repeating the slurs on television.

McCain several times attacked Obama for his eloquence, perhaps confusing it with the nuance that George Bush disliked so much. Obama was indeed eloquent, and did indeed have nuance, wielding in the debate as in his spending plans the scalpel where his opponent's instrument of choice was the hatchet.

There is of course, as Obama repeatedly spelled out, a profound difference between tax cuts targeted at the rich and those at working families, which can't be buried under his opponent's trite accusations of "class warfare" and "spreading the wealth around". Indeed, except in the unlikely event that the electorate confuses Joe the Plumber with Exxon Mobil, it may be that many of them find the idea of class warfare and spreading wealth quite attractive when confronted with the unacceptable face of capitalism leering at the impending depression.

Equally one of the few sharp rejoinders from McCain - that he was not Bush, and if Obama wanted to run against him he should have done so four years ago - was risking his own base, while sounding unconvincing to anyone who may have remembered that Bush and he share a common party.

Really, apart from this prick, the rapier was clearly Obama's weapon of choice as much as the scalpel – when he suggested that some of his accusers had been watching McCain's attack ads.

The Republican's statement that "I regret some of the negative aspects of both campaigns" was an admission without being an apology, not least since it was part of his negative attack on Obama, whose dismissal of hurt personal feelings in favour of dealing with real issues like the economy was pertinent and telling. As indeed was his masterful non-negative, damning-with-faint-praise assessment of Sarah Palin's great political capability and ability to excite the Republican base.

McCain certainly did his best to follow his coaches' advice to try to look as if he were being nice to his opponent, even if the words belied his contrived bonhomie. He also tried manfully to distance himself, somewhat shamelessly from his party's own president and record over the last eight years. In the end, most voters will doubtless remember that he was still a loyal soldier of the party that, as Obama pointed out, had brought about a record deficit after inheriting from the Democrats an unprecedented surplus.

One could certainly disagree with some of what Obama has to say, whether his un-necessarily complicated health plan, or indeed of deference to Joe Biden's foreign policy expertise, but they did represent clearly honest attempts to deal with issues while his opponent attempted to sidestep.

I could not help but suspect that McCain had been taking coaching from Palin. At times his gauche attempts to ignore the question in favour of his preferred prepared answers was embarrassing. And that may have shown in his appearance.

When Obama faced the camera in direct appeal to the audience, I certainly found it very effective. In contrast, McCain had difficulty focussing, and somewhat disturbingly also had a sub-Nixonian twitch to his eyes that made me suspect that maybe he did, after all, have some of the integrity that has been ascribed to him – and knew that he was eating his own previous words and reputation in public.

If the American electorate has as much sense as polls indicate, the maverick will soon be rounded up and branded as a loser.