Obama's TKO...

Friday's debate between Barack Obama and John McCain was anything but decisive.

Still, polls and pundits are giving the edge to Obama because he passed the "presidential fitness" test (that is: can you picture this person as President of the United States), and because of the Wall Street meltdown that has left Republicans holding the bag after a decade of deregulation and letting the robberbarons rule the roost. It also helped, perhaps that McCain came off like something of a Grumpy Gramps by not even bringing himself to look Obama in the eye, and adopting a condescending tone in his analysis of Obama's ability.

On the issues, the fundamental question voters must ask themselves this year is a version of Ronald Regan's famous question in his first debate with Jimmy Carter in 1980: Are you better off now than you were eight years ago?

For the vast majority of Americans the answer is a resounding "No!"

Based on their responses to the economic crisis at the debate and how voters responded to their answers, it appears that most Americans realize that Obama's vision of tax cuts for the middle class and regulating the financial markets is the best opportunity to get our country back on the right track.

There were no knockouts at the debate, probably no memorable lines, even. But it appears that in passing the "presidential fitness" test, by appealing to the voters on Main Street, and by appearing more empathetic Obama scored a much needed TKO.