WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama and his team were caught off guard by John McCain's suspension of his campaign and his call to delay the first presidential debate so he could return to Capitol Hill to work on the financial crisis -- just as they were surprised when McCain tapped little-known Sarah Palin as his running mate.


The Obama team has not figured out yet that McCain is waging an asymmetrical campaign, meaning at times he will take a risky, counterintuitive course, just as he did on Wednesday.

The Obama campaign is very smart, but in the closing weeks of this long presidential campaign, perhaps Obama needs more "red cell" thinking. Red cell is a term used by the intelligence community to describe wild, out-of-the-box approaches to potential situations.


Obama, I'm told, was frustrated with McCain and it showed during Obama's press conference from Clearwater, Fla., where Obama is conducting his debate prep.


http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/09/mccain_caught_obama_off_guard.html




A leader he is not!

I can't imagine Obama being happy about a debate with McCain...NOT that McCain is any great shakes as a debater but i have a suspicion...well more than a suspicion that Obama, thru INEXPERIENCE and the fact that he has a lot to hide, needs to be very careful in his remarks in a debate.     Maybe he'll have an earpiece with info from back stage to help him stay on point and avoid the 'uh' problem.    As with his visit to the 911 memorial, his lack of good leader instincts really shines through and he's prone to just plain ignorant bahavior and words.