I admit that my mind is already made up– I know who I’m voting for and I know where he stands on the issues I care about. But I watched last night’s Vice Presidential Debate mostly to see how Sarah Palin would hold up. Would she freeze like a deer in the headlights when asked the really tough questions? Would she “get back to” the American public regarding issues she had no clue about? Or would she use her good looks and charisma to win our hearts?

I was secretly hoping that she would come across as naive and unprepared as she’s been in the press lately. Oh, let’s be honest: I was hoping that Biden would rip her to shreds.

Instead of a good, old fashioned blood bath, however, what I saw during last night’s debate was a woman who has been groomed and prepared exactly for this night. Within the first 60 seconds of the debate, she endeared “Soccer Moms and Joe Six Packs” by asking Biden if she could call him Joe. If that isn’t adorable, down home folksiness, then I don’t know what is.

As predicted, there were lots of mentions of the GOP ticket being chock full of straight talkin’ mavericks. But Biden did a great job of debunking that well-worn myth, demonstrating time after time that McCain’s partisan voting record on issues like renewable energy and health care speaks for itself. Good. Let’s put this rumor to bed once and for all:

“Let’s talk about the maverick John McCain is. And, again, I love him. He’s been a maverick on some issues, but he has been no maverick on the things that matter to people’s lives,” Biden carefully explained. “He voted four out of five times for George Bush’s budget, which put us a half a trillion dollars in debt this year and over $3 trillion in debt since he’s got there. He has not been a maverick in providing health care for people. He has voted against — he voted including another 3.6 million children in coverage of the existing health care plan, when he voted in the United States Senate. He’s not been a maverick when it comes to education. He has not supported tax cuts and significant changes for people being able to send their kids to college. He’s not been a maverick on the war. He’s not been a maverick on virtually anything that genuinely affects the things that people really talk about around their kitchen table. Can we send — can we get Mom’s MRI? Can we send Mary back to school next semester? We can’t — we can’t make it. How are we going to heat the … house this winter? He voted against even providing for what they call LIHEAP, for assistance to people, with oil prices going through the roof in the winter. So maverick he is not on the important, critical issues that affect people at that kitchen table.”
–The Nation

A critical moment for me came when moderator Gwen Ifill asked about the responsibilities of the vice president. Palin seems to want to follow Dick Cheney’s path by blurring the line between Executive and Legislative powers, exactly the kind of abuses of office that Biden thinks make Cheney the most dangerous VP in history.

This was Palin’s time to shine, and I think that her supporters were probably re-energized by last night’s performance. But what about the people Obama and McCain are still struggling to get, the independents and the undecided voters of America? Who did a better job of not only addressing the questions in a convincing way, but convincing the electorate that their ticket had their interests in mind? It’s a tough call. Palin did a great job of speaking in complete sentences despite what we’ve seen in her earlier performances, but she still appeared to be reading her responses at points, and got away with dodging questions. I was worried about Biden’s ability to let himself be more knowledgeable than Palin about issues of foreign policy without playing into (misguided) criticisms of being “too harsh” on the self-proclaimed Washington Outsider from Alaska. But as it turns out, he was extremely adept at both being a gracious opponent and emphasizing his experience over Palin’s.

Undecided voters might be impressed that Palin didn’t stumble over her own low expectations, but they should realize that they should judge her by the same standards as any other politician. Just because she’s an outsider doesn’t mean that she shouldn’t know her stuff. And being a maverick doesn’t even come close to qualifying you for the second-highest office in the country.

I knew something was wrong with this McCain ad, but I just couldn’t place it. Brent Staples, though, explains it perfectly in The New York Times:

In the Old South, black men and women who were competent, confident speakers on matters of importance were termed “disrespectful,” the implication being that all good Negroes bowed, scraped, grinned and deferred to their white betters.

In what is probably a harbinger of things to come, the McCain campaign has already run a commercial that carries a similar intimation, accusing Mr. Obama of being “disrespectful” to Sarah Palin. The argument is muted, but its racial antecedents are very clear.

The thinly veiled racial undertones in this election are hitting some voters loud and clear, even though some may not recognize it. Staples also talks about other members of the GOP are characterizing Obama with antiquated racial signifiers like “uppity” and– maybe even more appallingly– “that boy.”

I’m hoping these instances will be fewer and farther between as we near November 4, but something tells me that the opposite will be true. Meanwhile, in our so-called “post-racial” society, Obama will have to continue to be conciliatory where other candidates might be downright indignant, a throwback to the days where black men had to avert their eyes from a white woman to avoid retaliation.

The way that Republicans have attacked Obama are disgusting, but not surprising. They have placed him in a particular quandary wherein he is ridiculed for being too soft-spoken and passive to be an effective president during this time of war, yet his image is hardened when it’s convenient to characterize him as the bad guy, just like in this modern Willie Horton ad (Daily Kos suggests you watch it without sound for the full effect):

It’s tough to see Obama have to tiptoe around things that candidates don’t typically have to avoid, but if it gets him into the White House, do we have a choice?