The Final Debate—In Review

Well kiddies, that was it—the 20th Democratic debate and yes I watched the whole damn thing, staying up way past my bedtime. Hold your applause until the end.

Clinton tried to make a couple of jokes and jabs, one time referencing a skit from last Saturday's SNL that dealt with how the press fawns on Obama, and they seemed to fall flat. I was especially turned off by the moment of righteous pissiness that she exhibited over Tim Russert and Brian Williams always directing questions to her first.

And they spent the first 16 minutes talking about their healthcare plans. Let me tell you people, the difference between these two plans are miniscule. While I think it is a great thing to focus on policy ideas so much, I am not sure that the subtle differences between the Clinton and Obama plan warrented 16 minutes of back and forth.

What else? Oh yeah—I was thinking about my fence sitting friends last night and this is what I am puzzled by:

When it comes down to it there aren't any fundamental differences between Obama and Clinton, both essentially want to do the same things—help the middle class, get us out of Iraq and make healthcare affordable for more Americans. That is the nut-nut. These are all things I agree with and support. So what makes these two different comes down to the fact that one is a white woman and the other is a black/white mixed man. And one is a Clinton. Now some of you may argue with me, but that is the difference.

Then you have McCain. And I think this was correctly summarized in the debate last night (sorry I can't remember which candidate said it, maybe both did) that he is basically an extension of the Dubya White House. He wants to keep us in Iraq for an undeterminable time, he thinks the tax cuts Bush gave the wealthy should be permanent and he doesn't have a plan to fix our healthcare system. Oh yeah, he also voted against raising the minimum wage. Really John? Do you want to try to provide for yourself or a family on $5.15 an hour? That barely buys you a gallon of milk and not even two gallons of gas these days.

So this is what I think it comes down to—if you think the last seven years have been a disaster you vote for Clinton or Obama (frankly I don't care which one, as I said above the results will be the same in the end although they might choose different paths to get there). Or if you think that Bush has done a bang up job—choose McCain. It is as simple as that.