Gotcha!! Flurries of blogs, newspaper articles, television reports, the list goes on and on, are discussing last night’s Town Hall-style Presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama.  I offer nothing, other than my opinion, which I have found is not ubiquitous amongst my fellow Americans (like it ever is…).

John McCain won last night.  That’s right, I said it and I mean it.  I don’t care what political analysts are saying about the “That One” comment, or the $300 billion mortgage slip-up; those are mere trivialities that do not hit the core. The bottom line is that many people talk about Obama as being a better speaker, more “Presidential”, a quicker off-the-cuff debater, etc.  I didn’t see that last night.

John McCain, policies of both candidates notwithstanding, performed better in the debate because he conducted himself more professionally and eloquently. Senator McCain made one slip-up with the diminutive “That One” remark, which I shall now dub, “The sound bite heard ’round the World.”

If you actually paid attention, not the same as merely staring blankly at the television while your mind fills in the candidates’ dialogue with substance you presume they are saying, you would have seen Tom Brokaw incessantly reminding the candidates to adhere to the rules they agreed to for the debate. This is understandable as two minutes is not very long to answer some pretty hefty questions.  However, the candidates showed a little something about their personalities in the way they responded to the moderator’s prodding.

Barack Obama completely ignored, and even became slightly hostile to Mr. Brokaw, going so far as to ignore the rules of the debate by speaking out of turn even at the objection of the moderator and the other candidate.  I understand that the rules were restrictive to some degree, but then Obama and his campaign should not have agreed to the rules as they were finalized.  I do not want a President in office who ignores rules and does not respect others.  That mirrors George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, which is most certainly not, “The change American needs,” so overzealously espoused by Senator Obama.

The pettiness and childish quarreling between both candidates over their alleged “fundamental differences” put me off a great deal.  The candidates are fundamentally very different, however that was not expressed adequately to the public in this most recent bout.  That which I saw expressed was an underlying anger and hostility in Obama’s character when under duress.  A United States President will be under duress for the majority of the term, so I think it imprudent to select a candidate who cannot handle the pressure artfully.

Go ahead, listen to the pundits, ireporters, bloggers, whomever, if you must, regarding who won the debate.  I choose to believe my own eyes and ears, and those senses tell me McCain laid down some serious smack on Obama last night.  Why else would Obama have insisted on responding to comments McCain made when there was to be no response?  Because he wanted to clarify points McCain made that cast Obama in a very damagingly negative light.  That is part of the debate strategy, Senator Obama.  McCain outmaneuvered him, plain and simple.  Kudos to John McCain on his debate performance, no matter what the political analysts say.