Mind the Gap

Obama's lead is opening up everywhere--in national polls that virtually all have him ahead by large margins and in every key battleground state (where he needs two or three, he leads in six or seven). More people trust him on the economy, and despite the slimy last-ditch efforts of the Palinistas, the country is becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of Obama as President.

Tonight's debate was pretty dull. I agree with most of the pundits that this format was rather wretched. The questions were barely so-so at a time when there are lots of big questions to ask--and most of the questions weren't very new (and that question at the end wasn't Zen, it was just irrelevant--Ifill's Achilles' heel question was more pertinent, and that is saying something). Boring as it was, though, it did McCain no favors--he looked weak, and old, and crotchety. He said he'd implement a complete moratorium on new government spending in one breath, an then introduced the idea that somehow the Federal Government could come in, buy up "bad mortgages" for people who are upside down in their loans and resell them to homeowners at the price of their devalued homes (essentially having the rest of us eat the capital loss, I guess) HUH?!?! But Obama's health care plan is evidence of the "big hand" of government?

The election is four weeks from today, and a lot can still happen, of course, but as more and more people see Obama as the one who is steady and calm in crisis, the less opportunity McCain will have to close the gap. I'm sure McCain will try to pull a few more things out of his sleeve in the weeks ahead, but the bluster is starting to fall on deaf ears. For someone who calls so much attention to his record, he's done an awful lot to undermine it and reversed his position a few too many times to be believed...