After the first debate

After driving back from watching the first Presidential debate (I don't have cable in my house) I was going over in my head some of the finer points brought up by both of the candidates. First and foremost I think that it has to be said that Senator Obama won this debate by a large margin. While his victory over Senator McCain is not the knock out blow that some Democrats would have wished for, it is important to note that this debate on foreign policy, national security, and international relations, etc. was supposed to be Senator McCain's strong suit.

Several points were made and while I have to agree with McCain that experience is important, I also have to agree with Obama that correctly judging a situation is just as important, if not more so. President Kennedy correctly judged the Cuban Missle Crisis, even though he lacked the experience that Nixon may have brought to the situation, and brought America, Russia, and the rest of the world away from the brink of anhilation.

One last note before I end this post. I am surprised that after every time Senator McCain brought up his support for the veterans and his active role in taking care of veterans, that Senator Obama did not remind Americans and ask McCain for his reasons why he did not support Senator Webb's GI Bill. This bill was supported by every veterans organization, the majority of the Senate and the House, and by almost every veteran, thus if McCain does support veterans and is willing to take an active role in taking care of America's veterans why did he oppose this GI Bill? More importantly while I disagree with Senator McCain's lack of support for the 21st Century GI Bill, it is unfathomable to think that the maverick, the sheriff, the driver of the straight talk express did not even show up to vote against Senator Webb's GI Bill. How can you be a leader if you are not willing to stand up for what you believe? Unless McCain never really believed the reasons why he was against Senator Webb's GI Bill and the only reason why McCain was unwilling to support this bill was because it was proposed by a Democrat instead of a Republican. But that means McCain would have been playing politics with the lives and benefits of american veterans and certainly the maverick is above such petty Washington politics.