When this race started, I sort of thought of Obama and McCain as equals in my head – both basically decent men, who would do their best for the country. However, as the days have gone by, Obama is starting to come off as the better man, cool-tempered even in a crisis, reasonable, and more respectful towards his competitor.
In both the first and second debates, McCain wouldn’t look directly at Obama. In fact in the first debate, he kept referring to Obama in the third person, as in “Senator Obama doesn’t understand . . .”, while Obama addressed him in the first person. McCain’s manner appeared to be condescending. In the second debate, McCain took it closer to disrespect when he referred to Obama as “That One”, when Obama was sitting not a few feet away from him ! Talk about rude !
Also via the newsmedia, we are getting to hear of rage building at McCain/Palin rallies where people in the crowd have called out stuff like “Kill him (Obama)” and “He (Obama) is an Arab”. While McCain stopped the woman, and corrected her saying that Obama was not an Arab, he is resorting to campaigning with propaganda that he knows is patently false. Like the Ayers association. Apparently McCain didn’t get enough of the vicious smearing the last time he was made a target (in the 2000 presidential primaries, he was falsely accused of illegitimately fathering a black child, when his daughter Bridget is actually a dark-skinned kid adopted from Bangladesh), to remember what it felt like.
His negative campaign against Obama, hurts McCain especially because he sets himself up to be this holier-than-thou person, foreever denouncing the greed in Washington, and talking about the need for moral integrity and decency. He seems to be doing just the opposite. His ideals and personal integrity doesn’t seem to be what it was, because with time, he and his campaign managers stoop lower and lower in an effort to smear Senator Obama. Do they have no decency left ?
In fact, watching the second presidential debate, I thought he looked like a crochety old grand-father who wasn’t getting his way. Yes, I do want a President who goes after what he wants, but not at the cost of moral integrity and decency. If McCain can’t withstand pressure from the right-wingers enough to hold firm the ideals upon which he bases his campaign, then maybe he isn’t the right man for the job.
