Even on an off night, Barack H. Obama is an amazing orator.  He is composed, collected and very articulate.  If we were voting for our Country's Spokesman instead of Commander and Chief, I would vote for Barack H. Obama hands down! Unfortunately, we are asked to carefully consider his policy statements, and not his performance, while making this very difficult decision November 4th.  

I have a personal reservation about televised debates that has roots back to the Nixon/JFK debate.  Those who watched the 1960 debate on television overwhelmingly gave JFK the win; those who listened to the 1960 debate on the radio overwhelmingly gave Nixon the win.  We have placed an undue amount of emphasis on the appearance and delivery at the extreme detriment of the message.  I would venture that Tim Robbins or Robert Downey Jr., with the proper preparation and practice could whip anyone in a "made for television event" like last nights affair.

With that said, the following is a verbatim excerpt from last nights Presidential Debate held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY. (Coincidently the home of the now famous Nixon v. Kennedy debate in 1960 that tipped the election in the favor of "Reagan Democrat" JFK). I think it is the best example of the primary and fundamental differences between the policies of Barack H. Obama and John S. McCain.  Obama has a clear Social Democrat, redistributionist philosophy while John McCain exhibits a more Free Market, wealth generating philosophy.   Please read they whole transcript and make your decision for President of the United States based not on the power of presentation and personal charisma but on the quality and history of each governing philosophy.

[for a complete transcript of the entire debate click here]

SCHIEFFER:  All right.  Would you like to ask him a question?
 
MCCAIN:  No.  I would like to mention that a couple days ago Senator Obama was out in Ohio and he had an encounter with a guy who's a plumber, his name is Joe Wurzelbacher.
 
Joe wants to buy the business that he has been in for all of these years, worked 10, 12 hours a day.  And he wanted to buy the business but he looked at your tax plan and he saw that he was going to pay much higher taxes.
 
You were going to put him in a higher tax bracket which was going to increase his taxes, which was going to cause him not to be able to employ people, which Joe was trying to realize the American dream.
 
Now Senator Obama talks about the very, very rich.  Joe, I want to tell you, I'll not only help you buy that business that you worked your whole life for and be able -- and I'll keep your taxes low and I'll provide available and affordable health care for you and your employees.
 
And I will not have -- I will not stand for a tax increase on small business income.  Fifty percent of small business income taxes are paid by small businesses.  That's 16 million jobs in America.  And what you want to do to Joe the plumber and millions more like him is have their taxes increased and not be able to realize the American dream of owning their own business.
 
SCHIEFFER:  Is that what you want to do?
 
MCCAIN:  That's what Joe believes.
 
OBAMA:  He has been watching ads of Senator McCain's.  Let me tell you what I'm actually going to do.  I think tax policy is a major difference between Senator McCain and myself.  And we both want to cut taxes, the difference is who we want to cut taxes for.
 
Now, Senator McCain, the centerpiece of his economic proposal is to provide $200 billion in additional tax breaks to some of the wealthiest corporations in America.  Exxon Mobil, and other oil companies, for example, would get an additional $4 billion in tax breaks.
 

What I've said is I want to provide a tax cut for 95 percent of working Americans, 95 percent.  If you make more -- if you make less than a quarter million dollars a year, then you will not see your income tax go up, your capital gains tax go up, your payroll tax.  Not one dime.
 
And 95 percent of working families, 95 percent of you out there, will get a tax cut.  In fact, independent studies have looked at our respective plans and have concluded that I provide three times the amount of tax relief to middle-class families than Senator McCain does.
 
OBAMA:  Now, the conversation I had with Joe the plumber, what I essentially said to him was, "Five years ago, when you were in a position to buy your business, you needed a tax cut then."
 
And what I want to do is to make sure that the plumber, the nurse, the firefighter, the teacher, the young entrepreneur who doesn't yet have money, I want to give them a tax break now.  And that requires us to make some important choices.
 
The last point I'll make about small businesses.  Not only do 98 percent of small businesses make less than $250,000, but I also want to give them additional tax breaks, because they are the drivers of the economy.  They produce the most jobs.
 
MCCAIN:  You know, when Senator Obama ended up his conversation with Joe the plumber -- we need to spread the wealth around.  In other words, we're going to take Joe's money, give it to Senator Obama, and let him spread the wealth around.
 
I want Joe the plumber to spread that wealth around.  You told him you wanted to spread the wealth around.
 
The whole premise behind Senator Obama's plans are class warfare, let's spread the wealth around.  I want small businesses -- and by the way, the small businesses that we're talking about would receive an increase in their taxes right now.
 
Who -- why would you want to increase anybody's taxes right now? Why would you want to do that, anyone, anyone in America, when we have such a tough time, when these small business people, like Joe the plumber, are going to create jobs, unless you take that money from him and spread the wealth around.
 

I'm not going to...
 
OBAMA:  OK.  Can I...
 
MCCAIN:  We're not going to do that in my administration.
 

OBAMA:  If I can answer the question.  Number one, I want to cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans.  Now, it is true that my friend and supporter, Warren Buffett, for example, could afford to pay a little more in taxes in order...
 
MCCAIN:  We're talking about Joe the plumber.
 
OBAMA:  ... in order to give -- in order to give additional tax cuts to Joe the plumber before he was at the point where he could make $250,000.
 
Then Exxon Mobil, which made $12 billion, record profits, over the last several quarters, they can afford to pay a little more so that ordinary families who are hurting out there -- they're trying to figure out how they're going to afford food, how they're going to save for their kids' college education, they need a break.
 
So, look, nobody likes taxes.  I would prefer that none of us had to pay taxes, including myself.  But ultimately, we've got to pay for the core investments that make this economy strong and somebody's got to do it.
 
MCCAIN:  Nobody likes taxes.  Let's not raise anybody's taxes. OK?
 
OBAMA:  Well, I don't mind paying a little more.

 
MCCAIN:  The fact is that businesses in America today are paying the second highest tax rate of anywhere in the world.  Our tax rate for business in America is 35 percent.  Ireland, it's 11 percent.
 
Where are companies going to go where they can create jobs and where they can do best in business?
 
We need to cut the business tax rate in America.  We need to encourage business.
 
Now, of all times in America, we need to cut people's taxes.  We need to encourage business, create jobs, not spread the wealth around.