Americans Away From Home

Carole - We watched the debate in a packed room upstairs at a popular pub here in Wellington. The facility was reserved by Erin Howell of Democrats Abroad here in New Zealand. All of the partisan spinning aside and forgetting about who won or lost I think that one thing was definitely made clear: Obama's performance demolished the Republicans contention that he is an empty suit and cannot speak extemporaneously. I thought his high point was in reminding McCain that the Iraq war did not begin with the surge in 2007 but was preceded by 4 years of Bush administration incompetence and that McCain also believed, like Dick Cheney that American troops would be greeted as heroes by the Iraqis. I think he missed a good opportunity to go after McCain and his obsession with the belief that fighting earmarks will be the hallmark of a McCain administration's prudent spending, since earmarks constitute less than 10% of federal government spending. Otherwise this was a great moment for Obama. David L. Dann