Obama, McCain and Role Reversal

First, it's now become crystal clear that absent any third party participation in the presidential debates, what we're left with is a snooze fest that does little more than repeat back stump speech platitudes. The one exception last night was McCain's proposal to have the feds purchase mortgages, something that would be blaring across the front pages of the corporate media today if Obama had called for it.

Having said all of that, the dominant feeling I get when watching McCain v. Obama is one of role reversal. Given McCain's age and life experience, you'd think that he would be the calm, measured, "wise" candidate. You'd think Obama, youthful and insecure about lack of experience, would be intimidated by his older, wiser opponent and overcompensate with a tense, rapid delivery filled with excess schmoozing and deference.

Instead we are seeing just the opposite. Obama the 47 year old is coming off as the calm, wise, nuanced candidate while McCain often appears as if he is trying to impress the prom judges with energy bursts. Maybe that's been Palin's influence on him. Or maybe he's sensitive to critiques about his age and is trying to overcompensate with excess walking around the stage. Who knows. It's kind of fascinating to watch. If I were advising McCain I'd tell him to "chill out" in the last debate.

If the election this year does turn on the issue of who has the best temperament to lead us through these troubled times, I don't see how Obama can lose. But we are still in the Rove era, and so by November 4th it is conceivable that the election will have nothing to do with temperament.