Obama adjudged the winner

McCain had an uphill struggle at the debate last night.  He is fighting against all the dynamics that are against him at the moment.  There is unease at the financial crisis, there is disenchantment with the Republican party and there is a bout of soul-searching that is uncharacteristic for America and for Americans.

McCain punched hard and hard against an edifice that was far from as hardened as he was.  There was no circling of Obama on any issue even as McCain paced relentlessly up and down the stage trying to literally circle the man.  (Some may consider it to have been unfair for an aging Senator to be expected to perch on a bar stool for that long – this may well have been the reason for McCain otherwise inexplicable reason to pace up and down the floor so much).

Yet even though the Democrats are in poll position, there is no particular enthusiasm for the Democrats or for their response to the problems that the country is facing.  For all of Obama’s charismatic charm there is no wholesale adoption of the Democrats’ central economic platform. This correspondingly would suggest a weak mandate if they win office to change things around too much.  There is no optimism of any description – an environment in which the election to the supreme political office might well just prove a pyrrhic.