I do agree with the media spin on one thing

[whosinpower]

The ideological differences between the two candidates is stark. But more than that - some have painted Obama as agreeing with John - in that McCain was right all along, and Obama was naive. I could not disagree more on how this looks. That it appeared that McCain was on the offensive, and Obama was on the defensive for most of the foreign policy portion of the debate.

Obama simply does not do things the same way as presidents past. He doesn't prescribe to the us vs them mindset. This became crystal clear to me when watching the debate. An example is Russia invading Georgia. MCCain was all over this, dropping names and stating we have to watch very carefully Poland, Ukraine etc, etc. And then Obama did it - he agreed with McCain that Russia was feeling emboldened with a fresh infusion of petro dollars - which is something that MCCain had stated. And then Obama went on to point out WHY Russia was rich with petro dollars and tied it right back to the Iraq War - and how that had changed everything.

I can't help thinking who would you want to sit across from any world leader to negotiate anything. MCCain is confrontational - and this is dangerous because it does not encourage dialogue or any attempt to find common ground - and it is predictable. It is an old mindset of superiority without consequence. Obama is much more nuanced, but to me, he comes across as being far far more competant and capable. I think that those leaders might find themselves far more interested in dealing with Obama because he comes across as being far more diplomatic to allies, and just as importantly - competitors.