Fiesty and Fiery debate

If McCain was a plane he would be a short range attack one.  If Obama were a plane he would be a long range bomber.  As a result the debate this evening was a fly past of different machines, at different heights just out of each other’s shooting range.  Time and again it was McCain that tried to reach the dizzying heights that Obama still commands.

The financial crisis, energy independence, climate change, tax plans, abortion, dodgy connections, government waste, negative campaigning and education were all issues on which McCain tried to erode the smug looking assurance of his adversary.  McCain’s passion was as palpable as Obama’s unflappability.  Obama managed to dispatch his sparring companion’s attacks.  There was nothing that changed the ordering of the game (as well might be expected). 

The media will not have anything to seize upon of substance from this evening.  The momentum is strongly against McCain and there is little time left now to get back in the game.  He will struggle from this point on in the mainstream media to prove that he can control the course of events better than Obama.  But the truth of the matter is that the events that have taken control of the situation are those that are outside the debating hall.