My New Toy: Week 1

Call it an early Christmas present or momentary retail weakness. Regardless, last Friday, I walked into the Best Buy across the street from my office and walked out $300 richer, a shiny new Xbox 360 under my arm. My original Xbox has been thoroughly worn, and the DVD player was starting to choke on me… that combined with a little bit of extra cash prompted the buy.

Thus far, I’m very happy and impressed. I bought the Pro Holiday bundle, which came with Kung Fu Panda and Lego Indiana Jones. Because I bought it on Black Friday, Best Buy threw in Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground and NBA 2K9 for free. I also tacked on Dead Rising for some zombie-massacring fun. Since, I’ve also added Assassin’s Creed, Grand Theft Auto IV and a Nyko charging station.

The system itself: I know it’s got a more powerful system to cool, but I was a little surprised at first how loud it was. Loud enough to make my cat sit up and wonder what the hell was going on. This is very handily solved with the recent addition of full-game hard drive installations. At first, I didn’t notice the change after committing GTA IV to the hard drive, but after paying attention for a minute, it makes a HUGE difference. Less noticeable for gameplay (at least for that title), but the system becomes whisper quiet, which is nice.

The first thing I did was jump on Live (I picked up a 3-month gold membership to test drive the Netflix functionality – it’s awesome), downloaded the New Xbox Experience™®©, and made myself an avatar. It’s cool… it’s not something I see myself spending any huge amount of time on, especially if they do something stupid, like make you pay for new options. A few winter-themed options did pop up free of charge this morning, so hopefully that is the route it will take. I poked around on there for a bit, downloaded a few demos, and browsed the video library. Overall, I’m very pleased with the equipment itself. I take probably a little too much pleasure in the idea that I can just turn on the damn thing with the controller. I know it performs the job of a basic remote control, but it’s not something I’d ever had in a console before, and it’s a nice perk.

Onto specifics:

Netflix: Not a game, but definitely worth mentioning. The Netflix streaming support is probably the item that pushed me toward the Xbox, and prompted me to actually pull the trigger on the thing. In time, I actually suspect my girlfriend will use it more than I do – I work nights, and she watches quite a few “Watch Instantly” things in the browser when I’m not home. Now she can do most of them from the couch, which is cool. I pulled up a couple things just to see how it worked. The verdict is very, very good. The time from selecting “play movie” to the movie actually playing spanned about 30 seconds, max. Compared to something similar, like Amazon Video on Demand on Tivo (which I also use occasionally), it’s a huge step up. The video quality is slightly less awesome, and Netflix’s instant streaming selection is still limited (by time period and recognition, certainly not by volume), but the immediacy and ease of the thing holds it high. I’ve only watched a few TV episodes all the way through, but I got nary a hiccup. It’s really impressive.

LEGO Indiana Jones: Not to go too far in depth into something that everyone probably already knows, but this is also the game I’ve sunk the most time into so far. It’s goofy, it’s fun, it’s cute… The LEGO series has done a remarkable job of playing straight to fans of the franchises they use, satisfying them while at the same time making a very approachable and appealing kid’s game. I’ve currently plowed through Raiders of the Lost Ark, and am on the rope bridge in the final section of Temple of Doom. I’m also the type of person who will go back and unlock every little thing. The game is simple, but that’s not a bad thing. It looks pretty good too, noticeably cleaner that the LEGO Star Wars games I had for my original Xbox. It’s a good one.

Dead Rising: This was the first 360 game I ever played, at a buddy’s place after he got his for Christmas a couple years back. I remember imagining the possibilities it presented, and really, really wanting it. Having it now, it definitely meets those, but there’s one major problem. The text – all the text – is WAY TOO SMALL. As if I didn’t want one already, this game is really making me wish I had a bigger TV (I have a 19” tube). Until I get one or at least get to play it on a bigger one, Dead Rising sessions will probably just consist of running around the mall finding weapons, with no real regard for the missions, since I can’t read what any of them are anyway. At least running around the mall is fun all by itself. The minute I found a hardware store, I knew I was golden.

NBA 2K9: First off, I was shocked to see Best Buy throw this in for free, because it's still a new game, only two months old. I’m not a basketball fan, per se, but living in Boston
during the past year made it pretty hard to ignore (I’m sure people say the same thing about baseball, but being a huge Sox fan, I don’t see that as any sort of intrusion). I was in Vegas during the Conference finals this spring, and spent a good part of my last night there sitting in the sports book at the MGM watching the Celtics-Cavs game. Thanks to that, I do have a decent knowledge of the players. Also, my brother is a huge C’s fan, and he played basketball (and I watched him play) for as long as I can remember, so I have a decent understanding of the game. Which all leads up to this game sucking me in. And I SUCK at it. It’s cool that the control scheme is laid out in a way that gives experienced players a more organic way to use more complicated moves that the computer has traditionally handled… I’m just not nearly good enough to use it. My Celtics are off to a 1-4 start, thanks to the Bucks sucking slightly more than I do.

 Other cool stuff in there, too… the “2K Network” does real-time score updates for the sports world. It’s a system that will probably tempt me to get the next Major League Baseball iteration, even though I have a grudge against 2K for prematurely ending the fantastic MVP Baseball series when they scooped up the exclusive MLB licensing. And the basic controls do make a lot of sense – a lot of games have used the right analog stick as an action control mechanism, and I think using it for shooting in basketball makes the most sense out of any I’ve seen. The game is absolutely fun, even for a non-fan… I’m just not sure I’m patient enough for it.

Assassin’s Creed: I remembered the reviews coming back for
Assassin’s Creed, which was supposed to make a huge addition to the open-world sandbox style that GTA perfected, and they weren’t as glowing as people thought/hoped they would be. The big complaint is that the game is repetitive. And that’s absolutely right. When you’re in Altair’s robes, every mission you do, you will do basically the same things – target your mark, get close to them, hit a button to do something relatively passive. It works, but it gets old pretty quick. Where the game makes up its points, though, is the visuals. You can be frustrated as all hell by the repetition, but climbing to the top of a View Point is the closest thing to breathtaking I’ve ever seen in a video game. It’s very cool. I also like the extent to which they take the open-world idea. It’s similar to GTA: San Andreas, in that if you want to get some where, you better commit to the time it takes to do so. Obviously, the Holy Land becomes a little bit tighter than it actually was, but it takes a couple minutes on horseback to get between cities. A nice touch. Combat is satisfying, as well. The basics are, again, repetitive, but the kill animations are fun to watch, and constantly creative. It’s enough to keep me going.

GTA IV: I got this on Tuesday, and it has sucked this week away. I’ve tried to play it as this guy living his life, and it makes for a much more
varied gaming session than most other games of the type. First, I’ll do a story mission. Then hang out with a friend. Then maybe take a girl out on a date. Pull in a couple fares as a taxi, go shopping for some new clothes, then another mission. There’s a huge selection of crap to do, and it has kept me very interested. Niko Bellic is by far the most interesting character Rockstar has given us in this series, as he’s the first with a real history to unravel. Whether or not you allow that history to inform decisions you make is obviously your decision, but it makes for some very interesting in-car conversations with those close to Niko. The fact that there are certain people that are closer to Niko than others is a huge accomplishment. There’s a legit bond between him and his cousin, and I find myself taking extra care to call the girl Niko is dating after every couple missions. What Rockstar has put out is a slice-of-life Sims. It’s not as detailed in some areas as the Sims, and much more specific in many areas, but in the Sims, I feel like I’m watching what life could be like. In GTA IV, this IS someone’s life. It’s great.

            The control scheme and interface are fantastic. The cell phone is the best tool they’ve ever given a character – CJ had on in San Andreas, but it was inactive as far as the player was concerned. This is a cell you can use to make plans, get missions, get help and many other useful things. It’s a great addition. The camera angle for driving is a little odd… it’s slightly offset to the driver’s side of a car by default. It works well, but I’ve found myself switching to first person to get a better feel for what’s going on in my immediate vicinity. The high-speed chases that GTA has become famous for are even better than ever – the RAGE engine is probably the best thing to ever happen to vehicle-based games. Traffic acts real, and speed FEELS real. It’s incredible. The combat system is greatly improved, with region-specific aiming working much better, and the cover system making much more sense than the awkward squat-behind-a-box-and-pray system of the previous games. Most impressive to me is the fullness of the minigame system. Bowling, pool and darts all work really well, probably as well as the best web-based or standalone retail title. And they’re fun, which is shocking and new.

            I haven’t touched multiplayer yet, and probably won’t until I beat the single-player… I want to see  where the story leads first. I highly, highly recommend anyone with a 360, PS3 or PC pick up the game and give it a shot, so long as the requisite GTA sex and violence doesn’t bother you. I’m not very far through, but it’s already one of the most interesting and complete gameplay experiences I’ve had in a long time.

I downloaded a couple of demos, to see some of the newer stuff the system had to offer – The Force Unleashed and Mirror’s Edge were most notable. Both were fun, but I feel like Mirror’s Edge is going to get hurt by mission structure. The best thing they could do for that game would be to give you a “free run option,” where you just get into the city and go nuts. The Force Unleashed demo is limited to force grip, push and lightning, but the sheer fun of throwing people around and watching them react to that will go a long way. TFU I will be picking up at some point. Mirror’s Edge…. I think it has to be a little bit cheaper.

One last quick note – I also picked up the Nyko Charge Base, so I wouldn’t be dropping a ton on batteries for the controllers. I only got it yesterday, but thus far it seems great. It’s a smart base, not timer-based, so it will detect when a battery is full and turn off. It looks decent, and contains the controllers when you’re not using them. The only downside is that the lights are REALLY bright, but if that’s my only complaint, life is good.

So far, I’m very pleased with this purchase. Like I said about Dead Rising, the biggest downside is that it makes me want a larger TV even more than I already did. Ah well… one thing at a time…

Left 4 Dead Demo Impressions

This probably would have been more insightful had I posted it when I intended to – before the full game got released – but whatcha gonna do? It’s almost appropriate, actually, since Valve’s first game, Half-Life, turns 10 years old today.

I’m still in more or less the same mindset about Left 4 Dead, which is…

… I’m not convinced yet.

I’m not sold on the game, which is actually a little upsetting to me, because Valve Software  is yet to do wrong by me. I remember basically draining my savings account to pick up the original Half-Life the weekend it came out, and have snapped up every other game Valve has released just as quickly. I was planning on doing the same with Left 4 Dead, but I started getting a little hesitant the more I read about it. I initially had 3 main concerns: 

1)      Graphics

2)      Variability

3)      Single-player

Graphics: … but not in the way you might think. Yes, the Source engine is starting to age, but as far as I am concerned, it’s aging very well. It seems to me that with each new use, (Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Team Fortress 2, Portal and now Left 4 Dead) Valve has found pretty significant ways to squeeze some new life out it. I’m sure it helps that it was developed in-house, since it allows them to tweak and re-tweak it as they build on it. My fear with Left 4 Dead was that they would abandon it and require a dual-core system, as they are starting to become more commonplace – at least in system requirements, if not in home PCs. My PC most definitely does not have one, so I was enthused to see that not only was I not automatically disqualified by my system, but I was pretty well supported. Even though I was basically running it in 800 x 600, I still got a very respectable framerate, and I was very content with the overall look. 

One thing I’ve always thought the Source engine and the guys at Valve do particularly well is texturing. They have a way of making everything look real – not photoreal, but legit and honest – without draining system resources. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure I want my game to look photoreal. What they’ve done in the Half-Life series is still very convincing and makes sense, but still maintains a certain level of fantasy that sort of reminds the player that it’s just a game. I like that. I also appreciate the stylized choice they made with Team Fortress 2. In that case, it immediately erases any nags of “reality” that might drag the game down, and makes it much more welcoming for certain ideas that have become integral to the game – rocket jumping, a double-jumping scout, invisibility – stuff that would have been out of place had they clung to something more grounded and real. 

In the graphics department, Left 4 Dead fits pretty nicely in the Half-Life style. It’s close enough to be convincing, but so close that it’s disturbing or unnatural. It looks good, I can run it and enjoy it on my current system (though nowhere close to maximum settings), and it presents a certain style that is notable artistically and that absolutely fits with the zombie B-movie aesthetic they’re aiming for. 

Variability: I’m honestly a little torn over this one. On the one hand, there’s something to be said for putting everyone on a very level playing field – everyone can do the same stuff, the only difference to be had is based on a decision you make about what weapon to carry. It’s almost a nice change from something like Team Fortress 2, where there is (or should be) a ton of strategy involved in choosing a class.  On the other hand, I can only assume that in a zombie apocalypse that certain people would survive for certain reasons, and that not all of those reasons would be the same. So to have the four characters pretty much identical beyond the model, voice and attitude (none of which are controllable by the player) seems a little short-sighted to me. That being said, I don’t really know how to rectify the situation without getting into the class balancing issues – something Valve has started addressing with the class updates in TF2. The class element brings a degree of uniqueness to each session – you can choose your class based on how you feel like playing the game that particular day. Now, because I’ve only played the demo, I can’t speak to the Versus mode, which sounds like it has a little more variation thanks to the boss zombies. That may very well take care of my reservations, but I haven’t seen it. I can certainly see both sides of the fence on this one, but I think I fall on the side of customization, which isn’t where Valve was going for this one. 

Single-player: I love single-player games. For awhile growing up, I didn’t have an internet connection that could really support decent online multiplayer, and in college I couldn’t afford to pay for an Xbox Live subscription, so I really came to appreciate a well-executed single-player game. Valve has most certainly championed that, taking the shooter genre to levels it had not previously seen with the Half-Life universe. I’m sure a little bit of it has to do with the fact that in most multiplayer games… I get my ass handed to me. I’m not bad, I’m just nowhere near as good as the people who really know these games and dominate the servers. I’ve never snubbed multiplayer – Battle.net, Team Fortress Classic and now TF2 have constantly grabbed gaming hours – but in most cases I’ve never even considered multiplayer until I beat the crap out of the single-player campaign. For me, it’s like an extended training ground. And to that extent, Left 4 Dead works. Playing the bots offline definitely gets you comfortable and prepared for the online play. Heck, more than that – because switching to online co-op adds other thinking humans to your team, multiplayer becomes easier on paper. What is disappointing for me is that lack of difference. There’s nothing unique or more in-depth about the single-player campaign in this one. 

Admittedly, that’s by design. Valve made it very clear what they were making. It was designed as a co-op game, with single player as an option for those who want a break from other people. I get that. But I think there are ways they could have gone that could have made the game a little bit deeper, and filled in some of the gaps in the game’s background story (again, I realize it was designed to function as four different “movie” campaigns. I’m just tossing around some ideas). What about giving each character a personalized “origin story” of sorts? Show Louis fighting his way out of his overrun office building; we could find Francis with his back to the wall as his favorite dive bar is surrounded by the newly-infected; Zoey could have a whole campus to get through in order to connect with the others; Bill might have been at the local veteran’s hospital – or holed up in his basement gun room – when the disaster hit. They each find their way to a common point, thus begins the No Mercy campaign. There’s also, I think, a good opening for some sort of Sole Survivor mode. Expanding it beyond a time trial should be left to better minds than me, but if you look at something like Dead Rising, there’s certainly an appeal to being the only one left and surviving by any means necessary. 

I don’t think the demo really showcases everything Left 4 Dead has to offer, nor should it. It’s a demo. But there are certain sections that aren’t clear to me – I’m still a little fuzzy on the AI Director – outside of triggering the horde in different places at different times, I didn’t notice any real change in gameplay in my dozen online sessions. I think a taste of Versus mode would have been very helpful, at least for me, to see some of the variability I was looking for in play styles. Some sort of preview - maybe not necessarily playable, but something - of the other three campaigns would have been nice to see what you’re in for with the full version. But it’s not like they can shove everything into a single demonstration, because there’s no surprises left for the buyers. 

In the end, there’s no doubt that Left 4 Dead is a good, fun game. The first horde rush two minutes into the demo will tell you that. I just wonder about its longevity. I also wonder if its longevity as a whole would be vastly different than its longevity with me specifically. Maybe I went in looking for something too specific from the game, but the fact is I didn’t quite find what I was looking for, and if I’m going to drop $50 on a game, I really would like to know that I’m getting something with a little staying power. I pre-ordered Half-Life 2 and beat it in the first weekend. I still play through it once every couple months. I don’t see the depth in Left 4 Dead that excites me. And because of that, I’ll definitely be waiting for price cuts. 

Don’t get me wrong… Left 4 Dead will make a lot of people very happy. I just won’t be one of them. At least not yet. 

Hate in Post-Election America

There was going to be backlash. Whichever way the vote went last night, there was no possible outcome that was going to make everyone happy. Despite the electoral college landslide, President-Elect Obama will enter a country more ideologically divided than any other time in recent history. This election, these campaigns and these candidates brought out the absolute worst in people, both intentionally and not. Both campaigns have slung accusations at each other that have been misleading at best and outright lies at worst. A sample:

-         Barack Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961. Hawaii became a US state in 1959. As far as the law is concerned, via the 14^th Amendment of the Constitution, that makes him a natural-born citizen, and eligible to hold the office of the presidency, despite his father being a Kenyan citizen. Not often mentioned during this campaign was John McCain’s citizenship status, which could just as easily been the subject of partisan screaming. McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936 when it was under US control. Why wasn’t this brought up? Because it does not affect his citizenship. A law passed in 1937 and legally applied to all prior births in the US-controlled area granted citizenship to anyone born there, not to mention the fact that both of McCain’s parents were citizens, granting him citizenship that way. Neither one is an issue.

 -         Barack Obama is not a Muslim. Nor does it matter if he is a Muslim. We all know when and why Muslim became a dirty word in this country, and it’s painfully unfair to all Muslim-Americans who want the exact same things that anyone else does. Like anything else – conservatives, liberals, Democrats, Republicans, members of every possible religious faith, Red Sox fans and Yankees fans – the craziest members are the ones that find the reason and means to shout louder than everyone else, and ruin it for the rest of us. This country has a long history rooted in religion, but not just one. The Pilgrims, the founders of this country we all take such great pride in? They left England because the Church of England had an interpretation of the Bible that they found far too lenient. From them Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson and others all left Massachusetts for religious intolerance to form Rhode Island. Utah was founded when Mormon pioneers fled religious intolerance in the Midwest. All these groups have now reconciled and integrated back into the rest of the country. When are we going to allow Muslims to do the same? 

-         John McCain is not George W. Bush. He earned his maverick status through the early and mid-90s, breaking with his party and building a reputation for work across party lines. More recently in his career, he has moved into a more traditional conservative position, even boasting about 90% agreement with the Bush Administration. These two claims proved difficult if not impossible to reconcile. 

-         Barack Obama is not a socialist. Or a Marxist. Or a communist. The tax reform he’s proposing does something that has significant precedent in the US. Because of the massive economic struggle America now faces, the market is reacting by raising the prices on a lot of goods, causing the basic cost of living to rise. Average wages, however, have not risen at the same rate, creating a pretty clear discrepancy and issue. Obama’s plan does “spread the wealth” to a certain extent, but the increases to individuals making over $250,000 a year should not be anything that creates the sort of pinch those making significantly less than that are starting to feel. The basic premise behind the tax changes is that for those Americans who have been able to realize their American Dream and become profitable because of it, they will now be called to give something back to those who are still struggling to do so. Considering that many of the people in those upper echelons who will get a tax increase made their money providing goods and services to those who will get the decrease (meaning the lower group gave the wealth to the upper group), this doesn’t really seem like all that radical an idea. It’s also no designed to “level the playing field.” No single tax break, unless it was truly extreme, would ever be able to moderate the wealth of citizens across the board. That would be dangerous, outrageous and would never, ever get through any governing body. 

-         Barack Obama is as much a terrorist or terrorist sympathizer as John McCain. Bill Ayers, Rashid Khalidi, Jeremiah Wright, Charles Keating, John Hagee, Sarah Palin, Tony Rezko.. Everyone has skeletons. Some of them are not nearly as big a deal as anyone thinks, and neither candidate is as close to any of them as the other would have you believe. 

What has been most disturbing to me is that since the numbers started coming in, the outpouring of hate has been tremendous. I thought it reached a fever pitch somewhere in late September, when the crap being shouted at rallies for either side was stepping way over the line. The one rational thing it tells us is how painfully divided this country is. You need look no further than McCain’s own supporters booing him when he announced he had called to congratulate Obama; posts on forums all over the web are starting to bring out the crazies (Fox News wins the award for the first mainstream website to have a commenter suggest that the President-Elect ought to share something else in common with JFK… I’m sure you can figure out what). There is no doubt that Barack Obama has his work cut out for him starting January 21^st, but look at it this way. In 20 months, a little more than a year and a half, he won over half the country. He now has four years to win over the other half. 

Here’s hoping… good luck.

VOTE!

It doesn't matter who for. Just vote. When our country works, this is why. Every vote that lifts a candidate nearer to elected office really only means one thing: that candidate works for one more person. By casting your vote for John McCain, Barack Obama or any of the third party candidates, you claim your little piece of ownership in this government.

Our system, flawed though it is, is designed to allow us more control than any other country on earth. It gives us each a voice. Use yours.

JD Drew: Great man? Or GREATEST man?

OK, I certainly didn't expect that.

Drew's 2-run homer (courtesy ESPN.com)

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I've certainly been holding out more hope than some of my friends and family this week, but going into last night, the situation certainly looked grim for the Red Sox. Heck, halfway through the game things looked pretty grim. But once again, the Sox proved that when their back is against the wall, they play better baseball and get more ridiculous luck than any other team. Ever. My fear, of course, is that they've somehow conditioned themselves to ONLY win in this manner, which will make every playoff run incredibly painful. But heck, if that's what it takes...

There's an argument that this was due. David Ortiz has had his worst playoff performance since emerging as Big Papi in 2003. He's hitting .167 in the postseason this year, compared to a .387 mark through the first two rounds of the playoffs last year. Last night's giant home run was his first of the 2008 postseason. JD Drew, the guy who picked up Ortiz's slack when Ortiz was out healing his wrist this summer, was certainly doing decently in this off-season, but hadn't shown the Papi-like knack for clutch hitting that he started showing in last year's playoffs. And Dustin Pedroia, the guy who started the scoring last night with a perfect RBI single, has been really the only Red Sox player to be consistently hot through the ALCS... it was only a matter of time before the rest of the team started bringing him around.

I make no illusion that I might be able to call this series right now. The ball is still in the court of the Rays, but last night the Sox demonstrated that calling them out of the playoffs is premature unless the World Series has already started without them. If nothing else, it guarantees an interesting 2009 campaign. The Rays, no doubt, are gonna be good, probably great. B.J. Upton and Evan Longoria are poised to become the next big superstar 1-2 punch in the majors. I think the Rays will replace the Yankees as the team for whom Sox fans will always keep an eye out.

When I left work last night around 10:15, it was 7-0 Tampa Bay. By the time I got home and turned on the TV, the 7th inning had just ended, and the Sox had brought the game back into questionable territory at 7-4. I think my neighbors hate me for the noise I was making for that hour last night. One thing's for sure... I need to find a way to swap my night shift tomorrow for the day shift. There's not a chance in hell I'm missing this.

New review: Religulous

Saw the Bill Maher documentary last night... my review is up over on the movie blog and at HBS. However, the review format isn't really the best way to get out a lot of what I felt about the movie, so expect to see something more in depth up here in the next day or so.

Presidential Debate #2

I’ve not yet done a political post, not because I haven’t had things to say, but I do feel like it’s something that needs to be handled with a certain amount of care. This blog’s readership is too small to really matter, but… I don’t want to play myself off as a partisan hack. That being said, I’m a 23-year old recent college grad living in Massachusetts making less than $50K a year… I don’t think it’s hard to figure out who I’m behind.

Last night’s debate was, I thought, much more evenly matched than the first one (all things considered, I thought Obama trounced McCain in #1). McCain’s campaign has turned up the volume on attacks against Obama, truthful or not, and the Obama campaign has done a decent job of keeping pace and attacking in their own right, but the change was largely McCain’s. Going into last night, the format didn’t really lend itself to maintaining the sort of attacks McCain had been using… or so I thought. Though McCain was certainly the more aggressive of the two in his language and approach to questions of record and judgment, Obama certainly didn’t take any of it sitting down.

But there are a bunch of things that pissed me off. Like these:

1. ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION! I think over the course of all 3 debates, maybe 6 questions have been properly answered, and at least three of those answers came from Joe Biden, a VP candidate. The best question of all three debates was submitted via the internet last night, when someone asked if health care was a privilege, a right or a responsibility. Credit to Obama for answering the question (a right)… before he went three questions back and continued a political attack on Obama. McCain gave about half an answer, saying it was a responsibility, though he never specified WHOSE responsibility it was. Again, he then charged right back into an argument that had dominated the three previous questions. The best answer of all three debates goes to Obama, who finally answered a point-blank question: Someone in the audience asked what benefits he might see from the bailout package. Obama gave a fairly thorough explanation (though somewhat oversimplified) that if these companies went under, there were some ramifications which involved payrolls not being met. The details weren’t perfect, but the idea of how such a massive economic failure would affect people not involved in the stock market or mortgage industry had yet to be addressed. It was good to hear someone offer up some explanation as to why every citizen ought to be funding this thing when a fairly small percentage is actually involved. This is the area of Obama’s style that I am least happy with – he can’t simply answer a question, so to hear him doing so was greatly appreciated.
   


2. Answer ONLY the damn question. I get it. These guys were instructed by their campaigns to take all of the shots that have found their way into your most recent stump speeches. But especially in this format, where the questions are coming directly from voters – meaning this is what we ACTUALLY WANT TO KNOW – do us a favor and stay on topic. If they have a zinger that actually relates to the question, go for it, but there was one point when both candidates felt a need to clarify tax policy and take shots at the other’s policy exaggerations from three questions previous. It ends up shortchanging the next few questions, and reduces their “intimate interactions with the voters” to live-action campaign ads. Both candidates were guilty of it. Some credit to Tom Brokaw for repeatedly reminding the candidates about time and subject restraints, but I do wish they’d give the moderator the ability to blatantly confront a candidate when he’s going off on something completely unrelated to the question. Of course, if that were the case, Sarah Palin would have been shut down for the entire ninety minutes last week.


3. The catchphrases of this campaign must be stopped. In no particular order, the words or phrases I’m looking forward to never having to hear/hear about again after November 5^th:

1. Wall Street vs. Main Street
2. “My friends”
3. Lipstick/pig/lipstick on a pig/etc.
4. Maverick
5. Scranton, PA
6. “That’s more of the same”
7. “That’s not change we can believe in”
8. Joe Six-Pack
9. Pork-barrel
10. Commander-in-chief test
11. Sarah Palin (OK, that was cheap. But good god… even if McCain wins, can we send her back to Alaska?)

In 10 easy phrases, I daresay I summarized 80% of every speech that has been given by any of the four candidates for president or vice president in the last month and a half.

Early returns from the debate showed Obama winning, which I mostly agree with. I think the fact that McCain was able to be somewhat effective with his attacks without losing his temper was key. There were points when he went to far – referring to Obama as “That one” in one of his responses. If he had let any more disdain like that show through, I think it would have hurt him quite a bit, but he kept his cool.

Ultimately, I think it’s an easier road right now for Obama. He’s the one people are getting to know, without having to fight off previously held opinions (those established or promoted by his opponents notwithstanding). McCain would normally have the advantage of being the established candidate that people were already comfortable with, but the fact that he’s campaigning on a platform filled with things he’s changed his position on isn’t going to do him any favors. Interestingly, that’s actually working against him on two levels – stuff on which he legitimately was a maverick or on which he broke with his party, which got him points with independents, he’s now toeing the party line on. Other things (and in some cases the SAME things) on which he’s agreed with Republicans he’s now needed to back away from in order to attract those independents. It’s something of a mess, and something Obama doesn’t have to deal with because he hasn’t been on the national scene for very long, for better or for worse.

One more month to watch these two fight it out. Regardless of who wins, what everyone – candidate, Congress and constituents – all need to realize is that come January 21^st, there’s a ton of work to do.