Nashville Snooze

Once again, a presidential debate failed to live up to the hype. Senators Barack Obama and John McCain sparred verbally for ninety minutes Tuesday night in Nashville, but neither really slipped up nor had a knockout punch.

The format this time was supposed to be like one of those town hall meetings McCain's so fond of, moderated by Tom Brokaw of NBC. Instead of a lively debate, what we got was a pre-screened audience with prepared questions who might as well have been sedated before the broadcast began. Was this being sponsored by Ambien?

Another problem is that, if the candidate answered a question from someone in one half of the audience in a theatre-in-the-round setting, they'd be turning their backs on the other half.

Questions on the economy and foreign policy, not on rehashing ancient history as far as the candidates' relationships with alleged domestic terrorists and scandal-plagued bankers were concerned, dominated the proceedings. Both Obama and McCain stuck to their familiar talking points without really answering the questions. Sometimes they rambled on for so long that Brokaw had to remind them that they were straying off the agreed-upon format.

In the end, both candidates played to their strengths: Obama was stronger on domestic issues, while McCain touted his experience on international affairs. But two days of a tanking stock market--bailout or no bailout--have cast a looming shadow over anything the two presidential candidates said Tuesday night.