I will admit that yesterday when I first read that McCain announced he was suspending all campaigning, heading straight to Washington, wanted to postpone the first of the Presidential debates and was asking Obama to join him in this effort…I was worried. This seemed to immediately put Obama in a difficult position. Since McCain had announced it to live TV first and stated he was asking that Obama join him, if Obama did then this would have the appearance that Obama is a follower while McCain is a leader. If Obama declined, I felt that the spin would have been made that Obama doesn’t care about the American people or the failing economy but only about winning the election. Hence, encouraging the McCain mantra …”I’m an American first.”

However, I was first jubilant when I heard about Obama’s response to this latest case of McCain/Palin political grand standing. After the jubilation, I admit I wanted to kiss Obama and his staff and I’m not a political stalker. I was proud though that the Obama campaign staff took a potentially fatal situation and forced it into a complete 180. Once again, they came out swinging and forced the McCain camp to step back and reassess.

I have no doubt who the better candidates to run our country are, but I fear that a large portion of the general population is influenced by what they see and not by what they know or understand. The McCain camp has pulled a number of Hale Marys that had it been closer to the end of the game, might have worked. However, it appears that Sarah Palin’s appeal is starting to wear thin and that her lack of qualification is on the tip of many tongues finally. I could blast her on any number of issues but essentially it comes down to experience and qualification, both of which she has none.

In regards to the debate, if Obama is there, McCain cannot afford not to be there. Obama has stood strong and if McCain refrains from participating this essentially gives Obama 90 minutes of air time. McCain cannot afford this. However, I still think that you will NOT see Palin anywhere near a debate on October 2nd. Though the McCain camp cannot afford to give Biden 90 minutes of air time, I don’t think they can afford nor are they prepared to put Sarah in that much light. If they do, I imagine that the campaign staff will be working overtime immediately following the debate with a massive amount of damage control.

By the way, did I say that I wanted to kiss Obama and his staff for that terrific response?