Town Hall Debate

Well, I've now watched both Presidential debates and the VP debate. I've watched interviews, listened to the pundits, looked at the lawn signs and car magnets, read the papers, saw my retirement savings shrink by the second and, and....and.

Does McCain have incredible experience? Yes. Does Sarah Palin irritate the heck out of me? Yes. Does Obama have a commanding presence? Yes. Do I like Joe Biden? Heck, yes.

Although I am a declared Democrat, I was open to looking at what either party had to offer with a fresh slate of candidates. I was so bitterly disappointed that Hillary was not the Democratic nominee that it has taken me a lot of time to warm to Obama.

So, watching the debates, I was not too optimistic that the town hall venue of this evening's debate would add to my overall impression of either candidate. I was wrong. McCain, who should have excelled at this venue, came off like a career politician in touch with decision by committee and completely out of touch with the middle class. Obama came across as someone very in touch with the American middle class, small business owners and the rights of the people. I'm big on social responsibility so that appeals to me.

In the pundit aftermath, people are pouncing on McCain's "that one" faux-pas. I just thought it made him look petulant and cranky, but his overall inability to connect with the audience and his being so out of touch with the issues that are sitting at MY table, makes it impossible for me to see him in position of President.

But here's the deal. We have a mess on our hands in the US. Today the news broke that AIG spent over $400,000 mere days after the American people forked over close to a TRILLION dollars to free up the credit markets. 1 in every 200 homes is defaulting on mortgages. We don't just need a new President...we need a complete government overhaul. To go from a surplus to such a major economic catastrophe in less than a decade is unbelievable. If this level of mismanagement happened at a large corporation all the execs would be out. Fortunately, I should be able to weather this storm -- I have a close and caring family who pull together in crisis. But most of all, I'm very saddened that my daughter will still be paying for this government's major mistakes when she is my age and looking at her daughter sleeping beside her.