The battle against fear

I cannot let last night's debate go without quickly commenting on it. I saw a desperate John McCain, fear-mongering to try and catch-up with Obama's quickly widening lead.
Barack Obama took the (too) cautious position of avoiding excessive confrontation. McCain's tack was expected and was just a watered-down version of what he has been doing on the campaign trail. I wish I had seen Obama a bit more combative, though. There were some very clear moments in which he could have stood-up to McCain with more vehemence.
But in the end, one thing was clear: McCain managed to explain very little about what he wants to do and how. Obama was as clear as it gets in the time assigned.
The division between the two also was made clearer. McCain is obviously a free-market guy, who believes nothing beats private intiative.
In some ways I agree with the Republican candidate on that one. I do think that government is usually a bad manager and more government intervention often translates into more bureaucracy and higher costs for everyone.
However, unlike McCain, I think the government has to exert strong oversight on the market. I think regulatory agencies need more power and funding to make sure the market is functioning as it should.
Anyway, theories apart, what also became clear is that Obama does really hold a very strong chance to win this election by now. The reason for that is a sad one: the economy is going down the drain fast.
And with his job on the line and collectors knocking on his door all day, the average American does not want to hear about how Obama was on the same board as a former American revolutionary who thought he could make his point get across by bombing public buidlings. He wants to know how on Earth the next president is going to get him out of this bind. And McCain simply did not answer that question. Besides, at this point it is clear that leaving it all completely in the hands of free-market does not work.
In fact, I believe McCain is hitting the wrong note. As Americans see the economy crumbling after decades of laissez-faire policies, they do not want to be given the choice on everything. For the first time since World War II, I daresay, Americans want a strong hand on the helm. They want the government to be there for them, and not the opposite as McCain suggests and assumes.
The problem is that Obama is likely to swing the pendulum too far and overshoot the government clout in his first term. And, as I said before, that is not good.
Finally, there is one thing in all this that makes me sad. I wish we were electing our first black president just because of his merits - which he has now proven -, not because we are desperate.