THE FINAL DEBATE: McCain starts fast, fades quickly

The last chance for McCain to gain some ground on Obama in the closing weeks started off well, but slowly disintegrated as time elapsed over the 90 minute debate at Hofstra University. I was shocked, but not totally surprised, that McCain was able to be the aggressor on the economic issue for the first 20-30 minutes, and that he had Obama on the ropes on many facets of the issue, including the metaphoric "Joe the plumber". After this, though, things went downhill for the maverick from Arizona. It seemed on almost every issue Mccain spent more time refuting the policies of Obama than he did promoting his own. He consistently interrupted Obama during his responses to moderator questions or rebuttles to Mccain's responses. It seemed almost as if McCain just prepared for the debate on the economy and decided to wing the rest of it. Makes sense, since his biggest trip-up is the economy, and the economy is the biggest issue for Americans right now, so why not focus on this? On other main issues, however, Obama clearly had the upper hand, such as healthcare and education. Surprisingly, the exit polls heavily favored Obama, many by 20 percentage points or more. And with the projection of the electoral map, courteousy of John King of CNN, Obama needs to win only 1 or 2 of the remaining swing states to win enough electoral votes to win the presidency. It seems then that this election is almost over, even before it begins 3 weeks from now on Nov. 4. The bottom line: McCain spent too much time this campaign, and particularly in the debates-criticizing Obama's policies rather than promoting his own. Also, McCain stated many months ago how he has limited knowledge and political experience with the national economy. After this statement, almost coincidentally, the economy took a turn for the worst, and quickly became the most important issue among Americans according to the pollsters. It makes one wonder if things would be any different if the global meltdown had not occured at such a critical time in American politics. People vote for the candidate who promotes the most important issue to Americans the best. In this case, the national economy is the most important issue currently in this election, and with McCain saying he has no experience with it, and Obama being an aggressor on outlining a plan for helping out the economy, it seems a no-brainer who will come out on top November 4th.