In the same vein as my remarks on the previous debates, I will tell you what I think Obama should have said in this debate.

Obama:

John seems to miss the point when I raise the issue that he voted with President Bush 90% of the time. I am not advocating voting against Bush’s policies just so you can call yourself a maverick. I am advocating it because his policies were wrong, very wrong. I am not going to vote against the policies of the Democratic leadership when they are right just so I can claim to be a maverick. I only do it when they are wrong. It is called independent judgment. John used to have it, but he seems to have lost it in the last eight years.

Obama:

It is odd how John and I seem to have switched sides on the question of saber rattling versus using diplomacy when we get to the topic of Pakistan. Bush and McCain have been saber rattling in every situation they have faced in the last eight years. Look where it has gotten us. We are spending ourselves into the poor house to fight war that never needed to have been fought. We find ourselves arguing with our ally Pakistan because we tried to support a military dictatorship in that country instead of supporting democracy. If Bush and McCain only knew when to use diplomacy and when to rattle sabers, we would have had Pakistan’s support in fighting the Taliban and we wouldn’t be faced with the choice we now have. Now they are claiming to be upset that I am talking about a reasonable policy out in the open. They would much prefer to carry out unreasonable policies that the American people never know about because they know that the American people would never support what they are doing if the governemnt were honest about it.