He’s also probably touchy about being a collaborator with his N. Vietnamese captors during Vietnam.

Really.

We hear a lot about bipartisanship. People in the middle, especially, seem to want that. More importantly, McCain claims to be the bipartisan maverick who can reach across party lines, put country first, etc., etc.
Obama showed what bipartisanship actually looks like. One cannot be bipartisan if one never says anything nice about the other side.

As for reinforcing McCain’s message, note that Obama’s technique is to acknowledge a point of agreement, then follow that up with a “but” — and then a often a shiv. Noting points of agreement makes it easier for people to accept, almost in sorrow for those on the fence, what comes after the “but.”

At one point, Obama noted that a willingness to sit down and negotiate with one’s enemies makes it easier to rally support for the use of force if that becomes necessary. Duh. After 8 years of George W. Bush, however, most Americans may have forgotten this basic point of international relations, of…well, of statesmanship.

Last night, therefore, we saw what bipartisanship and statesmanship — and leadership — actually look like. And you missed it. Somehow.

I agree — BUT you are sane. Believe it or not, way too many Americans will like Obama, IF he doesn’t act like an ANGRY BLACK MAN. And there are a lot of Americans who don’t consider themselves RACIST, but see blacks and whites in a different light. Blacks can’t get away with much of what white America can.

So — I think Obama NOT showing real anger is to his advantage. If only all Americans could see him as a PERSON rather than a BLACK MAN.

Really.

Obama nailed McCain repeatedly as wrong on Iraq.

On more than one occasion, he mentioned the $10 billion dollars a month that the war costs — a figure that becomes more and more important as bailout costs mount and McCain complains about a few billion a year in earmarks.

Obama countered McCain’s bracelet with one of his own. Very effective.

Obama nailed McCain for taking the focus off Afghanistan and letting bin Laden escape and thrive.

Obama effectively used Kissinger against McCain on Iran. He also got in the point that McCain doesn’t seem to know who the real leader of Iran is. McCain, on the other hand, started off that segment by sounding as if he is running for PM of Israel.

Obama was much stronger on the threat of loose nukes, which is the most frightening threat we face.

On the other hand, I guess if you are worried about the threat from Spain, you probably thought that McCain won.

Obama should have brought up the lobbyists who are running McCain’s campaign, his Keating ties, his intentions to start another war, his recklessness in choosing a clearly unqualified person as his running mate.

Maybe Obama should listen to Tina Fey’s Palin and realize he needs to “…want it more.”

I want someone gutsy enough to look someone in the eyes and impale them on their own words to succeed the criminal currently in the WH and Obama didn’t show me anything.

definately a tactic not a strategy, the strategy was to stabalize Iraq

But, they claim ’stabilizing Iraq’ is only a tactic in the larger strategy of removing safe havens or points of strength from Al Qaeda (who supposedly wanted to take over Iraq), so we can minimize AQ.

But, wouldn’t it be simpler to find them and kill them, rather than conquering the rest of the Earth to remove any “hills” they *might* want to take?

Bush is a weenie.

strategy is your overall goal, tactics are used to achieve that goal

That was exactly my point. The Surge was a tactic, not a strategy.

It’s really not worth getting into. It gets complicated when you have multiple layers. The strategy is to achieve peace, so the tactic is to destroy Al Qaeda. But, the strategy is to get rid of Al Qaeda, so the tactic is to round ‘em up, flush ‘em out, chase ‘em into caves, and crush them. But, the strategy is to round ‘em up and the tactics are to find them, entice or chase them somewhere, bring forces to bear and destroy them.

It’s complicated.

You’re better off wrasslin’ a Russian bear.