One of these two men will be elected, and once in the White House will have the power and authority to launch nuclear war.
The photo shows McCain, who entered at the start from the right stage side, and after surviving the session, his mind probably elsewhere, rotely starting to follow Obama to the left stage side rather than as rehearsed. He caught his error, but in doing so demonstrated this unpresidential look, captured for website publication.
You are not looking like Kennedy there, John, nor Reaganesque.
The Gipper was a constant disaster, but he did disaster with his amiable and relaxed style.
The best liveblogging of the debate I have seen, by Andrew Sullivan of the Atlantic, online here, is by the same author who has tightly analyzed the Obama success, here; used an email to dissect a dimension of Republican unrest, here; and tightly addressed the Palin situation, here:
08 Oct 2008 03:41 pm -- Palin vs Feminism
But just because liberals are annoying and Hollywood liberals make you want to vomit doesn't mean Palin is qualified to be vice-president. Look: Tim Robbins is about the only person who could make me support McCain. But I'm not stupid enough to let my loathing of idiotic Hollywood liberals affect my judgment of this farce of a veep candidate.
I don't think Palin is dumb; she is just proudly ignorant, a cynical opportunist and a pathological liar.
Schmidt will not allow a press conference because Palin simply doesn't know enough to be a vice-presidential candidate and so has to be protected from having that exposed in a manner that is simply unmissable. And they will not allow a press conference because Palin has told so many really bad and stupid lies about so many aspects of her life that she couldn't keep the lies straight in an hour of relentless press questioning.
While some press questioning falls short of "relentless," the term "softball" coming to mind, it is perhaps one of the most telling aspects of the McCain effort that the handlers will not put Palin anywhere near a situation where her limitations would be even more apparent.
And then, there is that photo of McCain, and at the debate end, the body language; the Obamas standing close together and comfortable, Ms. McCain having after noticing the Obamas then moving closer to Mr. McCain, both looking as much isolated as together, her exiting the stage via her characteristic four steps behind Mr. McCain, at the very end. The Obama couple appeared more comfortable and natural with each other, less wooden, and of the two gentlemen who voters will decide between, who are you more comfortable with, given Iran, North Korea, the economy, healthcare and Social Security concerns, and an Obama-Biden pairing vs. a McCain-Palin pairing?
I expect the vote will reflect awareness of how each ticket pairing came into being, awareness of likely motivations that way, and awareness of how competently and professionally each pairing has campaigned since the conventions.
Ultimately, however, second spot slips low in the decision making, to be almost a non-factor.
It is a voters' choice between the two gentlemen in the photo.
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Photo from http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/10/16/r1772410910.jpg [via finding it posted by Riley at lickingcalcutta, thanks].
