I watched the first Presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain tonight. Before the debate begin, Paul Begala , one of the political analyst on CNN had the following three points for the two candidates:

John McCain 1) Make sure you do not look too stale, caught in contemplating old man type looks 2) Do not be trigger happy 3) Do not show short temper.

Barack Obama 1) At times he can be satirical, avoid this as it can backfire 2) Do not be gun shy 3) do not get into a professor type preaching.
Apparently these personality traits are not fit for a President, points noted! What is true for a Presidential personality traits are true to a large extent for any one who has leadership and executive responsibilities!

The analysts recommended both of them to show some humor. In particular, one of the analyst was saying (Gloria Borger), given trial lawyer background of Barack, he goes after nuances and some time could be labeled elitist, not connecting well enough with the middle class. Interesting analysis, how your professional qualification and past career experience shapes you for your future endeavors. John McCain, she said, has been more of a street fighter, so he can connect better with the public, with humor, where Barack may sound elitist( remember his “small town Americans are bitter” comments ..probably taken out of context for political gains).
BTW, I like Paul Begala as an analyst, although he is a democratic supporter, and his opinions are likely biased in favor of democrats, he seems very convincing in what he speaks. If you are a democratic supporter too, you kind of cling on to every word that he says! I automatically find myself nodding in agreement

One other analyst I like from CNN team is Jeffrey Tooban He clearly has the mind of an analyst, quick to scope out the issue, draw conclusions, and provide his legal inputs( he is a legal analyst). And of course I like David Gergen and his analysis, he seems so sincere and sometime messenger of the bad news when you are rooting for a candidate ( in my case it would be Barack Obama) and this guy says your candidate came short

Anyway, I enjoyed watching the debate. I thought both these guys had done their homework. The foreign policy debate was good and frankly informative too. Being in North America, we are so much insulated form the larger world that some time you fail to realize what are the most vexatious issues out there, I can bet a lot of Americans have no idea what is the bone of contention between Georgia and Russia, why are they fighting? It seems so far away, so distant, so remote, not affecting our day to day life that frankly many Americans fail to comprehend the seriousness of the situation. In a way listening to these guys brought me up to date on many foreign policy issues including North Korea and Iran. Time well spent! I thought McCain, given his vast experience in the area, did pretty well, although he did seemed to be going back to the past quite a lot which may backfire with the voting public, given the “change” wave that is in the air. McCain seemed to be harping on the same point again and again, that the surge ( in Iraq) worked and he was behind it. To me it seemed like an overkill and you may actually shoot yourself in the foot- so you were right about the surge..big deal..but what about the basic idea of invading Iraq in the first place? I think Barack rebutted this well by saying straight on his face- John you were wrong- wrong to have voted for Iraq war, wrong to say that Americans will be greeted as liberators, wrong to say that the war will end swiftly.. that I thought was a good offensive from Barack. The larger voting public will take whose side on this Iraq debate, no body knows, I don’t think there was a clear winner.

The first part of the debate was about the financial crises currently gripping America. I was not impressed by either candidate on its response, I don’t think any of these candidates have a full grasp of what we are getting into. The bailout is still so new and came so fast, I think it is going to take some time before opinions crystallizes and we hear any concrete proposals from any of these candidates. This CNN article goes into some of the specifics in terms of where the candidates stood on various issues.

Who won the debate overall, opinion is divided. Here is a favorable article from Time magazine giving A- to Barack and B- to McCain. Here’s another from a Newsweek blogger that declares McCain a winner and here’s yet another which nicely summarizes the titanic battle. All these articles had one thing in common, McCain had this air of condescension and at times even outright disrespectful of his opponent, saying he doesn’t know, or he doesn’t understand, this may also backfire and turn off some of the voters.

Whether this debate will go down the history books or not, or just forgotten in the fast evolving political landscape, hard to tell, but was an important cog in the wheel of this political process. Worth watching! Looking forward to the debate of the Vice presidential candidates- Joe Biden and Sarah Palin( being hosted at Washington University, St. Louis). That would be interesting too..given Joe’s track record of a no – nonsense debater and vast experience (including foreign policy experience). Wondering if he would cut some slack to a much younger women opponent? Guess will have to wait till next Thursday, October , 2nd, to find out!

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I watched the first Presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain tonight. Before the debate begin, Paul Begala , one of the political analyst on CNN had the following three points for the two candidates:

John McCain 1) Make sure you do not look too stale, caught in contemplating old man type looks 2) Do not be trigger happy 3) Do not show short temper.

Barack Obama 1) At times he can be satirical, avoid this as it can backfire 2) Do not be gun shy 3) do not get into a professor type preaching.
Apparently these personality traits are not fit for a President, points noted! What is true for a Presidential personality traits are true to a large extent for any one who has leadership and executive responsibilities!

The analysts recommended both of them to show some humor. In particular, one of the analyst was saying (Gloria Borger), given trial lawyer background of Barack, he goes after nuances and some time could be labeled elitist, not connecting well enough with the middle class. Interesting analysis, how your professional qualification and past career experience shapes you for your future endeavors. John McCain, she said, has been more of a street fighter, so he can connect better with the public, with humor, where Barack may sound elitist( remember his “small town Americans are bitter” comments ..probably taken out of context for political gains).
BTW, I like Paul Begala as an analyst, although he is a democratic supporter, and his opinions are likely biased in favor of democrats, he seems very convincing in what he speaks. If you are a democratic supporter too, you kind of cling on to every word that he says! I automatically find myself nodding in agreement

One other analyst I like from CNN team is Jeffrey Tooban He clearly has the mind of an analyst, quick to scope out the issue, draw conclusions, and provide his legal inputs( he is a legal analyst). And of course I like David Gergen and his analysis, he seems so sincere and sometime messenger of the bad news when you are rooting for a candidate ( in my case it would be Barack Obama) and this guy says your candidate came short

Anyway, I enjoyed watching the debate. I thought both these guys had done their homework. The foreign policy debate was good and frankly informative too. Being in North America, we are so much insulated form the larger world that some time you fail to realize what are the most vexatious issues out there, I can bet a lot of Americans have no idea what is the bone of contention between Georgia and Russia, why are they fighting? It seems so far away, so distant, so remote, not affecting our day to day life that frankly many Americans fail to comprehend the seriousness of the situation. In a way listening to these guys brought me up to date on many foreign policy issues including North Korea and Iran. Time well spent! I thought McCain, given his vast experience in the area, did pretty well, although he did seemed to be going back to the past quite a lot which may backfire with the voting public, given the “change” wave that is in the air. McCain seemed to be harping on the same point again and again, that the surge ( in Iraq) worked and he was behind it. To me it seemed like an overkill and you may actually shoot yourself in the foot- so you were right about the surge..big deal..but what about the basic idea of invading Iraq in the first place? I think Barack rebutted this well by saying straight on his face- John you were wrong- wrong to have voted for Iraq war, wrong to say that Americans will be greeted as liberators, wrong to say that the war will end swiftly.. that I thought was a good offensive from Barack. The larger voting public will take whose side on this Iraq debate, no body knows, I don’t think there was a clear winner.

The first part of the debate was about the financial crises currently gripping America. I was not impressed by either candidate on its response, I don’t think any of these candidates have a full grasp of what we are getting into. The bailout is still so new and came so fast, I think it is going to take some time before opinions crystallizes and we hear any concrete proposals from any of these candidates. This CNN article goes into some of the specifics in terms of where the candidates stood on various issues.

Who won the debate overall, opinion is divided. Here is a favorable article from Time magazine giving A- to Barack and B- to McCain. Here’s another from a Newsweek blogger that declares McCain a winner and here’s yet another which nicely summarizes the titanic battle. All these articles had one thing in common, McCain had this air of condescension and at times even outright disrespectful of his opponent, saying he doesn’t know, or he doesn’t understand, this may also backfire and turn off some of the voters.

Whether this debate will go down the history books or not, or just forgotten in the fast evolving political landscape, hard to tell, but was an important cog in the wheel of this political process. Worth watching! Looking forward to the debate of the Vice presidential candidates- Joe Biden and Sarah Palin( being hosted at Washington University, St. Louis). That would be interesting too..given Joe’s track record of a no – nonsense debater and vast experience (including foreign policy experience). Wondering if he would cut some slack to a much younger women opponent? Guess will have to wait till next Thursday, October , 2nd, to find out!

The last few days have been pretty exciting as summer days wind down and we close the labor day weekend watching hurricane Gustav and a scaled back RNC( Republican National Convention) and the controversies around John McCains’ VP pick.Governor Sarah Palin. The last week though we had the DNC at Denver, Colorado, and I can still feel the excitement everyone had around it. That was truly a historic moment, what with the first African American nominated by a major political party and turning of a new chapter in US political landscape. In the DNC , I watched some of the key speeches, I thought Hillary did well, so did Bill Clinton in doing their part to unite the party and moving on after ending the prolonged bitter fight for Presidential nomination. Ted Kennedy got a lot of people sentimental after showing up despite his ongoing fight with brain cancer. Al Gore did his ritual planet earth thing, the inconvenient truth thing and rallied behind the new democratic nominee , in that way his speech was different and I do hope if Barack Obama is elected president, he delivers on the expectation around protecting the planet, the global warming, the fossil fuels, the renewable energy and so on. What else, yep, the introduction of Biden’s ( the son Beau Biden , the father Joe Biden and the mother Jill Biden) was great and moving! The son Beau did a great job of introducing his dad, I saw many in the audience reaching for their handkerchief wiping tears. Joe Biden’s speech was equally strong..when he says, it is perfectly fine to get knocked down, what is unforgivable is not trying to get back up. He can say that authority because he has gone through many personal crises in his life, particularly when he lost his first wife and an infant daughter in an automobile crash.
I heard Michelle Obama too, but not the whole speech, maybe that is why the speech did not leave a big impression on me, but apparently it did on a lot of people including her husband Barack who characterized it as one of the best speeches of the convention. In Michelle’s speech, more notable was the cameo by his sweet daughters at the and of speech who came on stage and joined their mom and talked to their dad over video conferencing, and Barack’s love for them was so evident! That had a more lasting impression on me, to me it is a testimony to his family values and the human touch which is so needed in a 21st century leader.
Finally how about the speech from Barack himself in front of over 80000 audience in the Invesco stadium and millions watching him on TV? Arguably one of the most important speech of his career and one which has the highest cable rating of any political speeches in recent history. To me it was very much in line with what I had expected, that he will come, he will command the stage and that he will conquer… And I am so proud he delivered on that expectation! The political analysts over on CNN where saying he needs to be specific in his plans for the country otherwise he risks being characterized just being a great orator with no real substance. I am sure Barack was aware of this and so his speech had a lot of specifics as well, which I thought was good but gets me worried that he may promise more than he is able to deliver, given the sorry state of economy and the deficits current government is running. Barack also displayed the other side of him, he was more direct in challenging John MCCain, in clear contrast to his soft image and a promise for a different kind of politics. I guess, the democratic strategists had a balancing act here, if they did not come out strong against John McCain, he (McCain) would have continued his negative campaign against Barack and labeled him once again a celebrity rather than someone fit for being a President. This was a fine line, had Barack gone very negative, his promise of positive campaign, would have been compromised and eroded his brand value, which I am sure is a jealously guarded asset in Obama’s campaign these days. Based on the post speech analysis by the CNN pundits ( the self professed best political team on Television..Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, John King, Campbell Brown, David Gergen) and elsewhere (particularly NBC) sounded like he did what he was supposed to, just the right amount of negativity to take John McCain head on and sounding Presidential and enough restraint to control his negativity thereby preserving his “above the fray” politician image, the change agent, the harbinger of hope and so on.
Yep, I liked his speech, but then again, I am already his supporter and a great fan of him..my judgment could be biased, so take it for what it is wroth

>
The last few days have been pretty exciting as summer days wind down and we close the labor day weekend watching hurricane Gustav and a scaled back RNC( Republican National Convention) and the controversies around John McCains’ VP pick.Governor Sarah Palin. The last week though we had the DNC at Denver, Colorado, and I can still feel the excitement everyone had around it. That was truly a historic moment, what with the first African American nominated by a major political party and turning of a new chapter in US political landscape. In the DNC , I watched some of the key speeches, I thought Hillary did well, so did Bill Clinton in doing their part to unite the party and moving on after ending the prolonged bitter fight for Presidential nomination. Ted Kennedy got a lot of people sentimental after showing up despite his ongoing fight with brain cancer. Al Gore did his ritual planet earth thing, the inconvenient truth thing and rallied behind the new democratic nominee , in that way his speech was different and I do hope if Barack Obama is elected president, he delivers on the expectation around protecting the planet, the global warming, the fossil fuels, the renewable energy and so on. What else, yep, the introduction of Biden’s ( the son Beau Biden , the father Joe Biden and the mother Jill Biden) was great and moving! The son Beau did a great job of introducing his dad, I saw many in the audience reaching for their handkerchief wiping tears. Joe Biden’s speech was equally strong..when he says, it is perfectly fine to get knocked down, what is unforgivable is not trying to get back up. He can say that authority because he has gone through many personal crises in his life, particularly when he lost his first wife and an infant daughter in an automobile crash.
I heard Michelle Obama too, but not the whole speech, maybe that is why the speech did not leave a big impression on me, but apparently it did on a lot of people including her husband Barack who characterized it as one of the best speeches of the convention. In Michelle’s speech, more notable was the cameo by his sweet daughters at the and of speech who came on stage and joined their mom and talked to their dad over video conferencing, and Barack’s love for them was so evident! That had a more lasting impression on me, to me it is a testimony to his family values and the human touch which is so needed in a 21st century leader.
Finally how about the speech from Barack himself in front of over 80000 audience in the Invesco stadium and millions watching him on TV? Arguably one of the most important speech of his career and one which has the highest cable rating of any political speeches in recent history. To me it was very much in line with what I had expected, that he will come, he will command the stage and that he will conquer… And I am so proud he delivered on that expectation! The political analysts over on CNN where saying he needs to be specific in his plans for the country otherwise he risks being characterized just being a great orator with no real substance. I am sure Barack was aware of this and so his speech had a lot of specifics as well, which I thought was good but gets me worried that he may promise more than he is able to deliver, given the sorry state of economy and the deficits current government is running. Barack also displayed the other side of him, he was more direct in challenging John MCCain, in clear contrast to his soft image and a promise for a different kind of politics. I guess, the democratic strategists had a balancing act here, if they did not come out strong against John McCain, he (McCain) would have continued his negative campaign against Barack and labeled him once again a celebrity rather than someone fit for being a President. This was a fine line, had Barack gone very negative, his promise of positive campaign, would have been compromised and eroded his brand value, which I am sure is a jealously guarded asset in Obama’s campaign these days. Based on the post speech analysis by the CNN pundits ( the self professed best political team on Television..Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, John King, Campbell Brown, David Gergen) and elsewhere (particularly NBC) sounded like he did what he was supposed to, just the right amount of negativity to take John McCain head on and sounding Presidential and enough restraint to control his negativity thereby preserving his “above the fray” politician image, the change agent, the harbinger of hope and so on.
Yep, I liked his speech, but then again, I am already his supporter and a great fan of him..my judgment could be biased, so take it for what it is wroth