Bill Maher was on The Daily Show last night complaining that Obama didn't do enough jabbing and counter-punching in the debate. One need only look at Bill Maher to wonder how much jabbing and counter-punching he's done in his life...

Regardless, this sentiment is something I've heard quite a bit of from the commentary class. It was interesting to watch the post-debate discussion -- for the first 15-30 minutes there was a cautious consensus in this regard -- but I could see the pundits hedging their bets because they knew the polls would be coming in and didn't want to throw their weight too heavily behind an analysis that would be proven false.

Also, I'm not sure how gender biased it was since I was watching CNN and they kept talking over Campbell Brown (a phenomena common in graduate seminars too).

Then the polls came out and the pundits tried to spin it, albeit subtly, as an audience less knowledgeable than them. In reality, the very thing they were praising, McCain forcefully repeating that Obama's naive and doesn't understand, and Obama being deferential, was exactly what worked in Obama's favor.

And this is the thing I don't get -- in a debate saying that your opponent is a loser is considered strong and masculine by these guys. I can just imagine Buster Douglas thinking that if only he had managed to call Holyfield some names that he could've held onto that elusive title belt for a little while longer.

I can say anything. Saying something requires no particular exertion or physical training, and insulting someone, especially in the pedestrian way most political debaters insult, doesn't even require any mental training. It demonstrates no courage -- they're not in a bar; they're surrounded by Secret Service guys.

In a barely related point, I've seen a fair bit of criticism of both candidates because they don't present their big ideas for handling the bailout.

Neither of them really can.

If McCain puts forward his idea for sliced bread, the democrats have to kill it because that'd prove he had the right idea. And if Obama came up with this round wheel idea, then the Republicans would have to kill that.

So by telling people their good idea they effectively kill them off in the womb, leaving us with square wheels and crooked toast.

Obama/McCain could work out some joint plan in theory and advance that -- but then I wouldn't really see the point in it being them doing this. Republicans in congress don't even like McCain that much (and I'm sure they're coming to realize that they won't need to stay on his good side) so he's got little pull, and neither of them have had as much time to think about this as the committees who've been working for the last couple weeks or longer.

--

Steven Palmer Peterson