What a horrible night for Barack Obama, and for the Democrats in general.  George Stephanopoulos, along with Charlie Gibson, conducted a great debate on substance, showing any American willing to look that neither Democratic candidate is ready for the West Wing, and that John McCain clearly is.

In an exchange that will be played all through the general election season, Senator Obama was asked about his connections to unrepentent anti-war bomber/terrorist/Weather Ungerground member Bill Ayers.  Obama was clearly flustered by the question, and in responding, compared Ayers to Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn's views on doctors who perform abortion.  Here's the video:



The last time I checked, Doc Coburn neither advocated, participated, nor had a need to repent from any terrorist activity, unlike Bill Ayers, who to this day is proud of his activities forty years ago.  If Obama wanted to unify America, he took another large step in achieving half of that goal with conservatives, who are not going to take this slander on Coburn lightly.   

Both Clinton and Obama stumbled on taxes, especially capital gains taxes, on guns, and on foreign policy.  Obama was clearly uncomfortable on the Wright issue that hasn't been put behind him yet. 

The other exchange that's going to come back and bite Obama is him doubling down once again on the bitterness comment that has caused him so much grief this past week. Here's the video of that:

When people feel like Washington's not listening to them, when they're promised year after year, decade after decade that they're economic situation's going to change, and it doesn't, then politically, they end up focusing on those things that are a constant, like religion. They end up feeling this is a place where I can find some refuge. This is something that I can count on. They end up being much more concerned about votes around things like guns, where traditions have been on from generation to generation.

So if the economy is going great, especially if it's caused by action in Washington, people have no need to focus on things like religion or votes on guns?  It sounds to me like he didn't walk back from what he said to the elites in San Francisco a week and a half ago.  Instead, Obama's answer came out sounding something like, "I made a mistake about what I said in San Francisco, so let me be clear about what I really meant then, and mean today.  When small town people get bitter, it sometimes drives them to guns and God.  Hopefully, I cleared that up."

As has been said around the blogosphere, there was only one clear winner tonight, and that is John McCain.