It's the day after the second presidential debate and everyone is flipping out because last night McCain referred to Obama as “that one” when responding to a question. Watch the video below:

Here’s the thing, it’s dumb enough to refer to anyone as “that one” considering you’re butchering every rule of grammar in the English language, but when your opponent is a highly respected African-American senator, you’re in for a whole world of problems if it looks like you’re trying to emphasize their “otherness.”

Now even if you believed every dirty secret you read about McCain in that blistering Rolling Stone expose, you can’t honestly say that you believe he’s racist, and that this was an intentionally racist remark. As one analyst on MSNBC put it, it’s just more of an “old man” phrase than anything. Like “hey you, yeah, that one, get off my lawn!” And really, this was only one of several awkward moments throughout the course of the debate. Other highlights? I’ll phrase it in drinking game format, since we found we had to make up new rules as we went: 

- Drink every time McCain wanders aimlessly  around the stage when Obama’s talking to try and get in the camera shot.

- Do a shot everytime McCain makes a joke that crashes and burns (all of them, especially the one about hair transplants).

- Two shots if that joke insults the moderator (“I wouldn’t pick you to be Treasury Secretary Tom” What?). 

And now, the Obama drinking rules made up during the debate: 

- Drink every time Obama looks like he’s posing for GQ while sitting on his chair.

- Two drinks whenever Obama judo flips a McCain attack (“Yeah, there are things I don’t understand, I don’t understand why you went to war with a country that had nothing to do with 9/11” Ohhhhh!).

- Do a shot everytime one of the moms in the town hall panel visibly swoons over Obama. 

Finally: 

- Drink every time a bald-headed audience member asks a question (a lot). 

Overall proceedings were rather boring. It was a “town hall,” with heavy emphasis on the quotes, because audience members weren’t allowed to talk again after asking their questions, which meant no back and forth between candidate and voter, and no follow-ups. Tom Brokaw did a pretty awful job controlling the debate and often hijacked voter questions to suit his own purposes.

Obama won the debate mainly because McCain didn’t win. The “maverick” (a word not heard since last week’s Sarah Palin mocking SNL skit) played it safe, not bringing up any of the personal attacks that he’s been throwing out on the campaign trail the past few days. If he had done that he would have tanked even more, because a debate audience is not tuning in for character assaults, they want concrete policy.

And all the polling was clear. Obama won. He was more likeable, more understandable, laid out his plans more clearly and was just his usual charming self. McCain came across the majority of the time as competent, but wandered into weird territory more than once (sometimes literally). It wasn’t the turnaround he needed, and I’m sure in the upcoming days, the polls will show that.

Obama-Biden: 3
McCain-Palin: 0