Comments on: Post-debate thoughtdown

By: Doc Searls

Doc Searls — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:59:13 +0000

Pauly, you’re right. Those TAL pieces are the high lucidity mark in a flood of blather about the crisis.

By: pauly

pauly — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:27:37 +0000

It’s funny, but both of the This American Life episodes that covered this topic (the other one is episode 355) made this subject all a lot more – I don’t want to say understandable” – maybe semi-comprehensible than anything else I’ve seen/read/heard.

By: Mike Warot

Mike Warot — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:05:10 +0000

Did either of them address the Derivatives & Credit Default Swap markets? These elephants in the room are big enough to suck up all of the money on the planet, at last year’s value, and have been growing at about 100% annually!
It’s a 0.25 Quadrillion dollar problem, that’s going to implode in about 24 hours when Lehman Brothers assets actually have a price put to them, and the derivatives of those prices are then expected to be paid with real money.
Want to learn more? This American Life covered in in crystal clear detail last Friday… spend an hour, and be enlightened…
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=365

–Mike–

By: Steve Garfield

Steve Garfield — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:36:38 +0000

Excellent thoughts! Thanks for sharing. I tweeted a link to this post.

By: jonathan peterson

jonathan peterson — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:35:20 +0000

At this point, all Obama has to do to win the Presidency is not scare the white people.

Obama may not have won that many points in the debate, but he absolutely SHATTERED McCain in what mattered – his likability was rated 40 points higher than McCain’s after the debate. You just saw a calm, nice, black man with a muslim name look like someone you’d much rather have over to dinner than a WASP war hero. That didn’t happen on accident.

Similarly Palin, is best ignored. She’s doing nothing more than feeding Rush O’Hannity red meat to the true believers to increase turnout. If you engage with her, you depress turnout in the middle and your base is already on board 100%.

Short of a drastic game changer, this election is DONE.

By: Michael Stern

Michael Stern — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:39:06 +0000

Doc,

I agree generally with your assessment that these guys were boring and pandered and oversimplified. I agree that the “my friends” tic did not serve McCain well and that Obama seemed to trip over his tongue. When the debate was over, two substantive issues remained with me, neither to McCain’s credit:

1. McCain said he would freeze federal spending, and that he would have the treasury buy every bad mortgage in America. It’s possible that this was just a cynical combination of lies, but it sounded more to me like McCain forgot what his platform was.

2. He has a secret plan that would catch Bin Ladin and he hasn’t shared it with President Bush or the military? I guess America fell for Richard Nixon’s secret plan to end the war in Vietnam in 1972 and McCain was hoping the same trick would work again. It sure fell flat with me.

Other thoughts –

The “That one” comment didn’t bother me. To me it sounded inelegant but not racist or even inappropriately dismissive. It was less patronizing than Ronald Reagan’s “There you go again.”

The format was a mixed blessing for McCain — he did well with voters one-on-one, but he looked weak standing next to Obama, who is taller and younger and healthier and more handsome, and who dresses much, much better.

Are there really undecided voters left in America?

By: Tom Matrullo

Tom Matrullo — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:25:43 +0000

Where exactly are Bill and Hill, especially Hill? This is the time when she should be out there kicking Palin up and down the highway.

By: Doc Searls

Doc Searls — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:04:33 +0000

Always much different on radio. Agree on McCain’s Fannie & Freddie. It was all a set-up to tar Obama for his having taken campaign contributions from them. But simplifications by both of them pissed me off.

And yes, campaign promises are disposable and will be disposed of.

By: Richard Reeve

Richard Reeve — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:54:34 +0000

I listened to the first hour switching between a dozen am radio stations as we do not get very good reception in our valley. Thanks for your take aways. I too was getting irked by “friends” and thinking that Obama kept tripping up. McCain’s claim that Freddie and Fanny were the cause of the current economic situation seemed particularly ludicrous.

Regardless of who ends up in the White House next year, my sense is that they will need to rewrite their plans and abandon their campaign promises. They will find there’s nothing left in the cupboard.