In Which I Am Surprised and Go On Blathering About Politics

So. Just to kick things off, let me say that I turned on the Presidential debate expecting to be disappointed by both of the candidates...

Thoughts:

-- My expectations for George W. are usually not very high, especially in these kind of situations. To me, he often sounds loud and demanding, like the tourists that make me embarrassed to be an American when I'm traveling overseas. Don't get me wrong. I think he'd make a great neighbor and a pretty good church youth group leader. My guess is that he's a great dad. He was at his best on that pile of rubble at Ground Zero in September of 2001 when that toughness was just what everyone needed to hear. But I've never been very excited to see him at the podium. I get a little nervous and embarrassed for his family.

-- Until last night, I had never actually heard John Kerry speak in anything resembling an unscripted situation. With all the news about him waffling and the little bits of campaign prattle that I've heard from him in the last few weeks, I was not expecting much. Kinda like Gore four years ago but worse. I expected him to be unimaginative and vague and mean and undignified and full of political campaign-speak.

-- I was surprised. In fact, I sat there with my mouth open for the first half hour, quite surprised by Kerry's focus and articulate responses. You can call me biased if you want, but he actually seemed to know what he was talking about. In contrast, the President seemed to be at a loss for words, or, at best, unsure and on the defensive. And here's the thing: I like a leader who knows what he's talking about. I don't like to wonder whether or not he has done his homework. (I still haven't gotten over that Colin Powell in the United Nations incident. Were those outright lies they gave him to say? Or was it the result of plain ignorance? Either way, the Bush administration obviously didn't know what they were getting into. Rather, the whole thing smelled of some other agenda being played out that had very little to do with the so-called "War On Terror." They pretty much lost me for good that day.)

-- These aren't partisan words. At least, I hope not. I'm working hard to be fair. I'm not registered with any particular party. This is just how I feel: I am ashamed to hear our current president talk when I realize that people all around the world are listening. What can I do about that? Does he know how he sounds?

-- He's run the country for almost four years now. Can't he come up with a more nuanced foreign policy than "you'd better have a president who chases these terrorists down and bring them to justice before they hurt us again."

-- But all of that wasn't the surprise last night. The surprise was Kerry. I didn't think he had it in him. I'm anxious to see how things go in the next debate.

-- On a not-so-small side note: if the Democratic Party could just get over the whole abortion fixation, which I think is an inconsistent and immoral plank in their platform, I might actually consider giving up my Independent status, but that's not today's conversation...

And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.