I know I said I’d give both candidates a bye on this one. But of course, I had to watch, to serve you dear reader. Just in case some one really landed a punch.

McCain needed a knockout blow. But Obama is too skillful, too cool. He stood up to McCain. The electorate needed to see that. If McCain is a fighter and threw the best he had, Obama is still standing this morning–way out in front.

I even took my own advice. I tried listening to the debate just on the radio. The experience makes you listen more to the ideas, rather than react to the visual. Listening you don’t get the “crotchety old man” image vs. the black preppy whippersnapper. You do hear angry vs. calm, aggressive vs. steady, frustrated vs.cool.

What you don’t hear is black vs. white. You don’t hear race. I heard Immigration  mentioned once (by McCain), affirmative action not at all, and civil rights mentioned just once (again by McCain). This was a generic American debate.

Listening to it, Obama won, mostly because when there was real clash, Obama had an answer. McCain got his Ayers/Acorn digs in. But they didn’t hurt. Obama had a reasonable and acceptable answer. When you answer an Ayers charge with “I consult with Warren Buffett, et.al…” McCain just looks ridiculous and desperate.

What McCain needed is to force the clash points. He did with the “I’m not George Bush” retort. That was one of his few moments where he got my attention. He should have repeated and developed that more. He didn’t, at least not enough to let it resonate like he wanted.  He did repeat a weak “spread the wealth” line,  that tried to paint Obama as some socialist hell bent on the redistribution of wealth. But that doesn’t work with the middle class, only with the rich.

Joe the Plumber certainly would rather see a redistribution to guys like him.

That McCain made Joe the Plumber the star, was good shtick and could have worked.  But  McCain’s policies lack the kind of answers for the average Joe. McCain is all about saving taxes on the rich and government cutting back on the things we need. Sounds like Bush, doesn’t it? McCain even attacks Obama in the same manner as Bush, painting Obama as a “tax and spend” liberal. What was that now about not being Bush?

McCain could have scored more points on issues like judicial appointments, abortion and vouchers. But while McCain was predictably conservative, Obama wasn’t predictably liberal. It gave Obama a chance to sound reasonable and pragmatic, not radical. Nothing to fear here. Unless you fear a black man. And then if you’re listening to the radio, it doesn’t even cross your mind. Obama just sounds like the better candidate.

So then I re-watched the debate on the DVR.  And McCain loses on the visual. Old and white can be winning when it’s seen as “avuncular.” That was Walter Cronkite’s trait. The lovable old white guy. Smart, wise, passionate. Not old,angry maverick.

Obama’s visual is professional, pleasant, polite. Civil. Not radical. Nothing to fear. He’s presidential for these diverse times.

In the closing statement, I went back to just audio to get a sense of the tone. Only Obama offerred a sense of unity, of working together. He said as much and it came across. McCain was too busy pleading his own case. Unity? He was too busy self-serving his fading campaign.

On TV, on radio,  it was Obama.  In this race, he is pulling away and soon McCain will appear to be running backward.

Listen to it instead. Find it on the radio. Or turn down the sound of the TV. Just listen to the debate.

I’m suggesting this new tack to test the one issue that has now clouded this campaign, especially when it comes to polling data. How much does race factor in your choice of candidate?

If you were to listen to them and not see that Obama is half-black, and that McCain was white, would it matter? Continue reading…

You knew the mud would be different this time around with the first person of color running for president. So the campaign’s new low should be no surprise.  John McCain gave his operatives the green light  to begin the mudslinging when he made his infamous “That one” comment in reference to Barack Obama  during this week’s debate. It was disrespectful, condescending and shows no respect for any person who is a minority in this country. McCain’s remark makes it imperative now for Asian Americans to realize who does or doesn’t speak in our best interest.

When Chinese and Japanese were excluded from this country, were we “that one”?  When Filipinos were barred from intermarriage in California, were we “that one”?  When you have been treated in a condescending and discriminatory way, were you “that one”?

The veiled hate rhetoric of McCain reveals a nastiness that we must expose and defeat.

Of course, it didn’t have to get to this point.  Put the merits of all the candidates on a grid and the superiority of one ticket over the other is just staggering. If the best deserve to win, then there should be no question. We could be nice and McCain can go back to his maverick life with his trophy wife and lipsticked pitbull. But it’s different now. Everyone’s barking away.

So if  you were on the fence, one of those undecided Asian Americans in this country who just aren’t sure yet, then  John McCain’s “that one” comment should be enough to let you reach a little campaign epiphany. That was one clump of mud was  hurled not just at another candidate but at all of us who dare to be American and live and think and believe differently from the likes of John McCain.

McCain? He’s not the one.

I have my mail-in ballot. I think I might vote today.What’s there to wait for–the depression?

Last night’s debate was so lacklustre that it was clear we have entered into the defensive mode.  Obama can afford “the prevent D” a bit more than McCain. But just don’t  expect anybody to come up with many silver bullets for the No. 1 issue at this point: our economic well-being and the future.

Expecting that from these final debates is just unrealistic.  You can’t wonk it in from here. In fact, to hear the two on the economy was sort of pathetic. McCain more so. Continue reading…

Forty-one percent of Asian Americans support Barack Obama compared to just 24 percent who support John McCain, according to a comprehensive groundbreaking  national survey released today in Washington.

But the most significant revelation is how Asian Americans are more undecided as a group compared to the national population. Thirty-four percent of Asian Americans say they have yet to make a choice, compared to 8 percent in the general population who say they are undecided.

That indicates APA voters have some clout in these remaining weeks of the campaign.

Finally a poll where we show up. National studies rarely show us at all. Not a large enough sample. Conclusion: We must not care or don’t have an opinion.

But this study shows that Asians can be included if poll originators really cared.  This one did, and it’s scientific. No more guessing needed. No more odd extrapolations.

These numbers represent a break-through. We can quantify our political interest and involvement. If the parties are interested, we’re interested.  The data is here.

http://www.naasurvey.com/

If you haven’t read Nicholas Kristoff’s column today, “Racism without Racists,” you should. And then ask yourself if you’re a racist. Continue reading…

Wells Fargo is buying Wachovia.

What did you expect? In this Darwinian world, the strong survive, the weak seek bailouts.

In this case, the weak look so appetizing to a bigger fish looking to gobble up something tasty.  Just makes sense. Citibank, which had made an earlier offer to buy Wachovia, was just a poser anyway, with almost as much riskiness in its portfolio as the banks that failed. Wells is a far better merger for everyone. It’s one of the bigs and assures stability, which after all is what’s attainable in the short term. A turn around, something more positive is down the road. All we want to do now is stop the bleeding.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/04/business/04bank.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

But the deal is instructive for the House which is expected to vote on the bailout today. Any package has to have something more real to ease the pain for consumer/taxpayers, something that gives hope to those who are upside down on stupid mortgages sold to them by greedy lenders.

Save the bailout bucks for the real people who are hurting. I don’t care if CEO X is fearful of not being able to pay his Netjets bill. There are real people in crisis who don’t get enough help from any current bailout on the table. Raising FDIC protection  is just window dressing.  Penalize, don’t bailout the greedy. Help the consumers who were victims in all this.

As the Wells deal shows, capitalism will take care of itself with merger and acquisitions.  That leaves society to take care of the new poor, the one time middle class that each day sinks further in this abysmal economy. That’s where the real societal values of trust and leadership come into play.

It will take more than a quickie $800 billion or so package to save us all. Let’s take the time to do it right. Remember it was those damn no-doc loans that got us in this mess in the first place.

I don’t know what I was expecting with the veep debate. But I didn’t think it would be so painful to watch Palin try to sound intelligent. She really does make George Bush look like a mental giant.  I want to take her seriously but she only has one move. When the going gets tough she goes cute, folksy, populist.  And then she says something embarrassing. Her answer on the bailout was just unintelligible.  It just won’t play in the Oval Office. Do you want to put her a heartbeat away from the presidency?

I’ve admired Nancy Pelosi over the years. Yesterday, her speech from the house floor haranguing George Bush for blowing the huge surplus inherited from the Clinton-Democrats was 100 percent right and totally amok.

But it was also the wrong speech at the wrong time. In crisis, we need a little less obvious harangue, and a little more kumbaya. Continue reading…

Here’s why I’m still suspicious of any bail out deal. It’s not about the consumer/taxpayer.

We just foot the bill. The beneficiaries are the capitalists, many of whom look on the bailout as a “sweetener” for the deals they want to make as soon as the bailout gets done. Continue reading…