Scattershot McCain

JOHN MCCAIN'S fiery performance in the final presidential debate last night may have given a lift to some despondent supporters who have watched the election getting away from them. But it is less clear that McCain's buckshot approach hit its target.

McCain was supposed to be facing Senator Barack Obama, but by the end of the debate McCain had invited in Hugo Chavez, the 1960s radical William Ayers, pro-abortion and environmental "extremists," and someone named Joe the plumber. He peppered Obama on his spending and tax proposals, but too often his remarks appeared sarcastic and mean. McCain made some overheated claims - that the community group ACORN is "destroying the fabric of democracy" was just one - that didn't help the perception that he is temperamentally uneven.

All the while Obama kept a steady eye on the topic of the debate - domestic policy - and on his substantive proposals for change. As in the two previous debates, Obama showed viewers a mature, disciplined, eminently reasonable person who also projects Democratic values; someone who believes healthcare and educational opportunities are an American birthright, and that tax policy ought to tilt toward the middle class.

Obama wears well. He hasn't allowed McCain to rattle him with unpredictable moves, whether it is the wildcard choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate, his melodramatic decision to suspend his campaign to address the economic crisis, or his attacks last night.

The stock market is in freefall. Basic needs are more expensive than ever. The very planet is in peril. These are serious concerns that face America's future. Yet, in a debate that McCain needed to win, he seemed fixated on some deluded throwback from the Vietnam era.