Valley Pulse

If John McCain needed a game changer in Tuesday night’s presidential debate he didn’t get it.

The Republican nominee was strong as usual on foreign policy, but otherwise seemed to ramble and lacked detail. He also appeared irritated with Barack Obama.

Obama had a much better command of information, and came across as smoother and more fluid in his debate performance.

The format for Tuesday’s debate got a thumbs down from most commentators I watched. The questions were not strong and the town hall format lacked the crispness of the debate a couple of weeks ago hosted by PBS’s Jim Lehrer.

Meanwhile, I take exception to the methods being employed by Sarah Palin on the campaign trail.

She has taken shots at Obama for his association years ago with former radical and now university professor William Ayers.

I read the same New York Times article Palin did, and Obama is not and was not a close associate of Ayers. Obama knew Ayers in the 1990s when he began his neighborhood work in Chicago, but has not associated with him in recent years.

It seems to me that in the current climate in this country, we need an honest debate about the vision for the future by the two campaigns.

Throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Obama simply won’t cut it now. It’s too late in the campaign and his friendship with Ayers is an old story, not a new one.

Palin seems like a vibrant personality who can be an asset to McCain. I don’t think she is that effective being an attack dog, and I don’t think she handles one-on-one interviews particularly well.

I also don’t think a parade of puff interviews with Fox personalities are going to silence her critics either. The best thing Palin can do is talk about the McCain vision for the future. The maverick theme is OK as well.