Our View-First debate displayed McCain’s childish demeanor

The absurd “I’m suspending my campaign” strategy Sen. John McCain executed last week caused somewhat of a media panic because he put the first presidential debate of a series of three on the line.

Dangerously close to the election, McCain wanted to concentrate on the economic crisis, rather than focusing on his campaign, potentially arming voters with a clearer view of where he and Sen. Barack Obama stand on foreign policy issues.

The news media speculated many reasons why McCain wanted to suspend his campaign. The most interesting claim suggested the McCain camp used the economic failures as a ploy to essentially cancel the vice-presidential debate scheduled for October 2.

Perhaps the McCain camp is worried about Gov. Sarah Palin speaking in public without a canned stump speech, but what would lead us to that assumption? It’s not like she is being safely guarded behind her fellow “maverick” from being covered in lipstick.

The McCain cluster pushed for the VP debate to have shorter questions and answers than the presidential debate, according to The New York Times.

No, that’s not suspicious at all. Are they afraid she might embarrass herself like she did in the now-notorious Katie Couric interview, where she unsuccessfully grappled with some sense of coherency?

If Palin is really a heartbeat away from being president, shouldn’t she be able to answer long, in-depth questions that require previous knowledge about the position she is eyeing? That mght let the public know she is more than a hockey mom?

It seems the Republican nominees are hiding from the American public. McCain’s “suspended campaign” and “I may not make it to the debate” debacle has many sides but the one that is clearest is it was nothing but a failed maverick maneuver.

Now that all this chicanery is behind us, we can only hope no other foolishness will emerge from the mud during the future debates.

The rules of Friday’s debate helped the voter not only hear what the senators had to say, but how they said it. The format was set to allow each nominee two minutes to respond to a topic and an additional five to respond each another.

That’s when it got exciting.

The mediator, Jim Lehrer, encouraged the two to directly address each other. Obama did so, looking at his opponent as he was speaking to him, while McCain spoke straight to the camera, avoiding direct eye contact.

The economy topic was added due to the current Wall Street meltdown, but foreign policy is where McCain was supposed to shine. Instead, he offered a “George W. Bush” moment by mispronouncing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s name.

This may seem like McCain bashing, but how can one take him seriously when he acts childish by making faces, laughing, squinting and contorting his features while his adversary is speaking?

The next debate is scheduled at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. on Friday, Oct. 8. All of the questions will be devised and asked by town hall participants and the job of the moderator, Charles Gibson, is to simply select the questions.

After enduring the grumpy faces McCain rudely made in an effort to demean his opponent, we to have ponder if perhaps he just needed a time-out or a nap.

The average person may not have the time to do her or his own research. By participating in these debates the candidates use their words and body language to convey their views and personalities. Interpret McCain’s and Obama’s performances for yourselves in the upcoming debates.

Either that, or wait until you see the skits on “Saturday Night Live.”