The winners of the vice presidential debate were Joe Biden and Barack Obama, by far, hands down. Ignore the pundit class: They are always wrong because they are completely out of touch with the reality of American voters and therefore do not have a clue what is happening. Here is why Biden and Obama won a great victory in the debate: Joe Biden looked, acted, sounded and was presidential and reassuring. It is true Palin did not look foolish, a plus, but an irrelevant plus compared to Biden's stellar performance.
There is only one issue in this election. The voters despise Bush. They disapprove of Republicans. They vastly prefer Democrats in generic preference. They recognize Barack as the only voice of true change when the voters want true change. They believe that Democrats are far better managing the economy. They want to vote for Barack, and the only remaining issue is whether enough feel comfortable with the candidate they want to vote for to actually vote for him.
McCain, pursuing a desperate strategy that has nothing left but anger management and personal attacks on Obama, has nothing left but demeaning attacks aimed at moving Barack lower than McCain's low levels. It has not worked, and will not work, and only makes McCain look nasty, reckless and desperate with ridiculous moves such as his parachuting into a failed negotiation on the bailout.
Joe Biden was presidential, and above all, reassuring to voters. They are comfortable with Biden as vice president and more comfortable with Barack because of Biden. The debate was a hands-down, slam-dunk win for Biden and Barack and even the pundits will figure this out in a couple of days as McCain will pull out of more states than Michigan.
This article originally appeared on the Hill's Pundits Blog.
