Prediction: McCain vs Obama

On the record, everyone. Who will be the next President of the United States of America?

(Proposal for stakes: Losers have to read and report on Scooter's materials on monetary policy if he hasn't made himself do it by November. Other ideas welcome.)

My prediction: Obama. I make this prediction after seeing McCain & Co's debacle on Tuesday night. To see Stewart's take on it, start at the 5:00 minute mark:



The problem isn't merely that McCain is a poor public speaker. The problem is that he has hired for his campaign a group of folks who orchestrated this mess. Someone advised him to be on TV giving a speech on Tuesday night next to Obama; someone chose a green background; someone thought it'd be adequate to give the speech in front of 100 people; someone wrote the speech; someone coached McCain to bare his teeth at the end of every sentence; and no one has told him not to hee-hee-hee as if he's reading it off the prompter. And then the candidate himself. Yeesh. Seriously, this is his second run for the Presidency, and this is as much skill as he's been able to acquire? This appearance displayed incompetence from beginning to end. It made me yearn for Bush's bud Brownie, the icon of incompetence. I don't think the electorate is in the mood for bush-league this year. Pun intended.

Some might point out that Bush wasn't a very good speaker either and that didn't stop us from electing him, but Bush merely had to compete with Gore and Kerry, both of whose manners or bearings were tough to take.