handled Wright about as well as he could have. Had he tossed him overboard immediately, the media simply would have hounded him anyway.

  Wright crossed a line, and the second he did, Obama kicked him to the curb. I don't see how he could have handled that sick situation any better than he did.

Good diary. I do disagree with some things you have said but it is good to engage on this level. I also think that Obama handled the Wright thing effectively initially given where he thought he stood with the Rev. I think he was truly taken aback and knocked off-stride by the fact that Wright was willing to call him a hypocrite after he had gone out of his way to not totally trash him the first time. He was swift in cutting ties when the Reverend refused his graceful exit from the national stage.

He held back because it was a fellow Democrat.

Abe Simpson is TOAST!

McCain is not extremely well at debates himself.  I think Obama has actually been improving in debates as the campaign went along and I would actually have to thank Senator Clinton in one aspect of testing him on the Wright issue...much better to come out now than late in the General.  I do not think there is much more material they can use to swift boat him since this has been settled "for most anyways".  I do think they will try to smear him with junk that should not fool anyone but probably will some...like he is a muslim..obama osama...typical smear crap.

That is my take anyways.

He was extremely unimpressive during the Republican debates; Rudy, Huckabee, Romney, and even Thompson were superior debaters.  McCain didn't even come off as particularly impressive with questions dealing with national security and foreign policy.  The only thing he could do during those debates was toss insults at Romney about how much money he was spending on negative advertising; McCain is a substance-free candidate that relies solely on his personal biography.

It would have been a thrill to see Hill embarrass this guy in three debates.

"He is a fast learner."

I agree, and I think his debate skills will only improve with time.  

They also say that the Republicans don't know how they are going to take Obama down given that the Wright thing didn't gain traction and the gas thing didn't gain any points.  It will be interesting to see what sort of Rovian smears they can bring to bear, because I suspect the blowback will be worse than the shot.

Remember, Obama was on all the cable news shows and had a YouTube clip within 48 hours of the Wright issue seeing its first play trying to contextualize the issue; he prepared and gave a speech lauded by many as historic by tuesday of the next week.

That issue was pretty much gone from his polling numbers until Wright started shanking him, and he had to finish it entirely.

As for the debates, the last thing Obama wanted to do was seriously harm a fellow Democrat who is an integral part of our Senate majority.  He held back then, but that won't be the case with McCain.  

I have been utterly underwhelmed by Obama's ability to think on his feet. Hillary dominated the debates with her wonkish  yet encyclopedic knowledge of the issues. I also see a diffidence in his response to crisis. He looks great in a bathing suit (a whole lot better than Michelle, I suspect) but he doesn't have the gravitas to be C. in C.

A fair diary, even if I don't agree with all of it.  With respect to debates, it's worth considering that Senator Clinton really is very, very good in that format.  So while he may not have looked as good compared to her, I think he will do much better against McCain.  Especially since in the latter situation, he will be able to go after Mccain on a host of significant policy differences.  Differences that were largely not present between Obama and Clinton.  

1. Debates: It's interesting that he has such great speech-making abilities, but isn't as effective in debate.  I think he would do well to eliminate the "umms," "ahhs," and hesitations and learn to give a slightly more powerful delivery.  

On the flip side, George Bush has lost every debate he's ever been in.  I'd still go with Obama over McCain's cheesy "my friends" and his geriatric presence.

2. His campaign. I thought he was pretty swift on responding to the Wright stuff. It was interesting to me that he managed to look very presidential in his response.

3. Gas Tax.  I think he won on this issue or I guess the Clintons lost.  

Here's the thing that's a bit infuriating about the Obama campaign: They have their own pace and method.  When something happens that I think they need to get out forcefully behind, their response is more measured.  They respond, but differently.

I also think he took his sweet time in doing the "roll up your sleeves and have a cup of coffee with the folks" stuff.  But he did it and I think it worked.

I have one concern about you: why you have only one (or two? or 3?) concerns with Obama? I have much more concerns about him, which making Obama unacceptable candidate (for me).

I'd say Obama addressed each one of these issues pretty well. After all, he beat the "inevitable" nominee by staging a crafty, disciplined, well-financed, and well-run campaign.

Here's my concern. As a (now ex) Clinton supporter, I realize it may be interpreted as a concert troll, but here goes.

When he came out against the gas tax holiday, and had to explain his enthusiastic support for them in 2000, he had to explain that he had learned they didn't work; in essence, he was wrong back then.

Wright: he was wrong not to speak up earlier.

Energy bill: if anyone calls him on his slamming the Cheney bill (as he did Tuesday night) he'll need to explain away his voting for it. Will he say he was wrong then and knows better now?

Having a politician admit he is fallible and claim he has learned from experience (as Hillary did claimed re healthcare) is nice and refreshing and all, but how many times can he get away with it before it comes up against his other attribute of good judgment?