THE LITTLE MAN

It's the little man who belittles.  And John McCain, once again, in tonight's debate, showed himself to be a little man. He was smug in his demeanor and personally dismissive of his opponent, Barack Obama, whom he called 'that one'.

Unfortunately, under whatever rules the two candidates agreed to in this flawed town hall style debate, they were not given the opportunity to correct blatantly untrue charges, most of which came from John McCain.

It was unfair to the candidates, particularly to Barack Obama.  John McCain spent much of his time going past the allotted time and making false charges.  With no opportunity for rebuttal, Obama had to either answer the question with his policy position or answer the attack.  For the most part, he chose to answer the question.

Tom Brokaw should not have used the so-called discussion time to ask an amended question, but rather, he should have let the two candidates confront each other.

But, all in all, we got a good chance to hear the policies and see the stature of the two men.  Barack Obama came off, to me, as thoughtful, reasoned, deliberative and presidential.  John McCain came off, as I've said, as a desperate little man.

Photo Credit: Stephen Crowley/The New York Times