The Mudslinging Begins

Obama talks too much.

Blah blah blah blah blah blah.

I just read both Obama and McCain's statements from yesterday on the failed bailout in Congress and the big "what now" question.

First, I have to say, they both said pretty much the same thing: Congress failed us, has been failing us for a long time, but that doesn't matter -- what matters is getting this thing taken care of, even if it means making "tough decisions" (read: even if it means voting against your constituency... [note: something Obama rarely if ever does, less so than McCain.])

The main difference I found between them was that McCain's statement was brief, to the point, and easy to comprehend. Obama's was verbose, full of redundant examples and proofs, and I caught myself "scan reading" by the 10th paragraph, and only reading the first sentence of each paragraph by the 20th (of 38 total, versus McCain's 11-paragraph statement.) And, imagine having to listen to that -- people's verbal attention span is half what their reading attention is. Obama needs to clean up his rhetoric now that people are listening.

Second, Obama's team should have done their homework before they started pointing fingers. It won't take a genius on the GOP side to point out plenty of opportunities to avoid this crisis originated on the Red side of the aisle that were shouted down by the Blue side.

Third, Palin-haters-be-damned, they have pretty much set it up for Sarah Barracuda to knock it out of the park on Thursday. She has been painted, even by her detractors, as the New Common (Wo)man, and if she gets going on her kitchen-table-issues, Biden better watch out. He's a millionaire with endless ties to Washington power and influence, and from a state where is own son is the Attorney General. His touching tragic past is not going to help him. More likely, the tragedy of his poor leadership in the Senate will take center stage vs. the Hockey Mom who lost her 401k this week.

I have to agree with David Gergen, an Anderson Cooper correspondant who says that the real, underlying issue is a "deepening leadership crisis," in America. He claims that confidence in any American leadership is bottomed out. This argument, if it catches on, which is could, is going to draw the election debate back to "leadership" which is McCain Territory.