My wrap -- from second half of debate, I'd say Obama B/B-minus and McCain B-minus/C-plus-plus.
Catching up, from TPM and WM, I wouldn't call Brokaw a whiner.
I'd call him auditioning to be the next John McLaughlin.
I think, from what I've seen so far, Obama's key here is to be "less cool" and to be personable. That includes reaching out to people, talking about things in a non-wonky fashion, and disagreeing with McCain, sharply where needed, without sounding sharp.
8:52 Obama does a great one, saying Chamber of Commerce sez McCain plan wrong.
8:56 Obama -- right is good, especially when tied in with size of American economy. That said, his "mandate" idea is tough, tough to explain in town hall format.
9:01 Obama good verbal judo on "I don't understand" foreign policy.
9:08 Great question by Katie... I'm not sure how close the Cambodia analogy is, let alone if she really believes that or if she's a McCain sympathizer trying to monkey-wrench Obama, but it's still a great question.
9:12-14 Not sure whether Obama should have tied Palin's support for his POV in with the statement on Pakistan -- which I still disagree with. That said, the "bomb, bomb Iran" riposte was good.
9:17-18 Both candidates lie like a lazy dog on Brokaw's Afghanistan follow-up. They ignore the question, they ignore how serious the situation is, they ignore how much effort it would take to even possibly reverse the current situation, they ignore how vulnerable that would leave our high-tech, oil-guzzling armed forces, they ignore British and Russian history, etc.
They're both wrong six ways from Sunday.
9:27 Iran and nukes -- both are schlepping for votes here. And neither has a better answer than in the first debate.
Summary? No gaffes by Obama, at least as far as the mainstream POV. Obama came off reasonably personable; also, the height advantage helps more here than when both candidates are behind podiums.
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