Joe The Plumber

In this strangest of political campaigns, who would have ever guessed that a plumber named Joe Wurzelbacher would become the most famous man in America. His name came up over & over again in tonight's debate.

Trying to put myself into the mind of the average undecided American voter, I think that Obama came off as calmer and more collected. McCain sounded a little snippy at times. McCain did his best to throw the most significant charge (ie. William Ayers) at Obama but the latter offered a reasonable sounding response.

Where the truth in any of the back & forth tete-a-tete actually lies, who knows. Mine is simply a first impressions evaluation. Stanley Kurtz, for one, thinks that Obama was somewhat disingenuous with some of his answers.

Kudos though to both men for engaging in a respectful, adult conversation, letting the other speak. In Canada's recent English language debate, all but Stephen Harper were able to do the same.

I still adamantly believe that an Obama administration will be a great disaster for America because socialist-leaning policies always kill the incentive of the most industrious in any society. And without them, societies slip backward. Britain is learning that now. So is France. Canadians have been wise enough never to elect the NDP. On November 4th we'll see if Americans need to learn a painful lesson.