President-elect Barack Obama and outgoing president George W. Bush met at the White House yesterday, and you know they didn’t talk sports. For Obama, it must be hard to come face to face with someone you have so roundly criticized but everyone’s taken shots at Bush, and my guess he’s just as happy to vacate the hot-seat as Obama is to take it. Their meeting was ‘off the record,’ meaning we don’t know exactly what they talked about, but there are no reports of headlocks or broken jaws, so we can probably guess it went as well as could be expected.

Like most people, I’m curious as to what they talked about—for Obama, the presidency is akin to taking a used car off somebody’s hands you know has all kinds of problems. There is a lot of talk afoot about Obama immediately rolling back some Bush policies. It’s hard to stop momentum, good or bad, once it’s started but God Bless him for trying, right?

We know that they did talk about what it would take to save the auto industry, and that’s all we know. I want to know if they talked about foreclosures, healthcare and practical matters about raising children in the White House. We know that Laura Bush and Michelle Obama had that conversation, but it seems like, dad to dad, Bush and Obama should have that talk, too. I think it’s a shame that we know so little of the First Meeting. What do you think?

What do you think Bush and Obama talked about?  What should they have talked about?

Images courtesy of nytimes.com

(*The views contained herein are solely the views of their respective authors, and do not express the views of TV One.  TV One does not take responsibility for their content.)

Looks like Obama is finally taking my advice.

At last night’s debates, we saw Sen. Barack Obama step into the arena with a game plan: less defense, more offense. He didn’t take the time he normally takes to defend himself and instead spent more time attacking the politics of Sen. John McCain which, if you recall, is a strategy I’ve been saying he should have taken from the beginning. It’s too easy and it looks silly standing toe-to-toe trading punches, and Obama showed he was going for a knockout punch last night. Did he get it?  According to a CNN poll, 54 percent of folks are riding with Obama.

Obama simply came across as more focused on issues, more loose—he didn’t refer to his notes as much. And he was about the business of educating people. In this special townhall format of debating, he engaged people in a personal way that didn’t come across as condescending. McCain was forceful but seemed unsteady. He relied on his notes a lot. But he had a better grasp on national defense issues than Obama and is clearly dedicated to taking America’s foes to the mat, if need be. He was able to get a hit on Obama on every point, but this debate was not the game-changer he needed it to be.

They both lose points for not sticking to the format: they were only supposed to get a one minute to respond and banter but ended up taking as much time as they wanted leaving moderator Tom Browkaw looking powerless to stop them. I want to see the candidates play by the rules and color in the lines, which takes more skill and focus than going off on five minute rants. That kind of economy of thought would show me, as voter, that they got their minds right. McCain is really going to have to go hard or go home in the next debate. That’s my two cents but what do you think?

Who won the debates last night?  Tell us here.Images courtesy of huffingtonpost.com.
 
(*The views contained herein are solely the views of their respective authors, and do not express the views of TV One.  TV One does not take responsibility for their content.)