I'm not your "friend"

There is no doubt in my mind that Senator Obama had a stellar performance in today's second presidential debate. The democratic candidate came off as knowledgeable, humble and sincere. He was able to refute most, if not all, of McCain's accusations and attempts at misinformation. But more importantly, when speaking about foreign policy, he was more assertive than in the last debate. He finally sounded like the commander-in-chief that is willing to take strong military actions, if necessary. Although his bit about Pakistan made me feel uneasy, it probably earned him a heap of brownie points among those undecided American voters that bought into Bush's scare tactics and feared Obama would not protect them against the terrorists.

My favorite Obama:
"We may not always have national security issues at stake, but we have moral issues at stake. [...] So when genocide is happening, when ethnic cleansing is happening somewhere around the world and we stand idly by, that diminishes us."

On the other hand, McCain looked stiff and uncomfortable... his suit was too tight. He adopted a grandfather voice that sounded patronizing and false. He desperately tried to distance himself from the Bush administration, but Obama correctly pointed out their affinities. McCain's phrases sounded like prefabricated regurgitations instead of authentic answers to the questions posed. Incredibly, he shot himself in the foot again by giving vague and uncertain answers to the foreign policy questions. It was his turf and he slipped in it! Also, calling every general "my hero" and saying that there has been a winning strategy in Iraq was simply pathetic.

I have one unanswered question:
Who had the brilliant idea of putting McCain back on those drugs that make you say "my friend" every two minutes? Adviser fail.