Who Won the Debate – New Poll Out

516 Uncommited Voters- CBS News Poll

Who won the debate?

40% Sen. Obama
34% Tie
26% Sen. McCain

Who will make the right decisions about economy?

68% Sen. Obama (55% before debate)
48% Sen. McCain (41% before debate)

Who understands voters needs and problems?

80% Sen. Obama (59% before debate)
44% Sen. McCain (33% before debate)

Who would bring real change?

63% Sen. Obama (51% before debate)
38% Sen. McCain (23% before debate)

Now committed to a candidate?

72% No
15% Sen. Obama
12% Sen. McCain

I think the numbers indicate something that the question “who won the debate” has trouble answering–who won the debate. People want to be ‘fair’ for some reason, but when asked more in depth questions, you see the disparity between the ‘who won’ question, and all the actual indicators of who actually came across better.

My analysis?

(please excuse my following use of very academic language)

McCain just got punked.

Meg Whitman for Treasury Secretary!?

Did I hear that right? Is Senator McCain out of his mind?

Two rounds of lay-offs this year at eBay, trying to clean up the bloated model that Meg Whitman built up, and that’s who John McCain wants as Treasury Secretary? What’s the logic there? Maybe it’s because she’s rich, and rich people must be good with money. Well, that’s not always true. It is true with Warren Buffett, as he has made his money with understanding the markets and the intricacies involved with moving money and commodities, but it isn’t true with a lot of CEO types.

A CEO isn’t always like a Warren Buffett, actually, they rarely are. In today’s day and age, CEO’s have incentives to make risky moves and move share price rather than long term fiscal policies that make sense. Meg Whitman did make eBay into a phenomenon, and much of that credit should be directly given to her. However, there are serious issues with eBay’s long term viability, and those issues are cropping up now.

I would like to know what experience or expertise Meg Whitman has in monetary policy, and economics (beyond the boardroom, which can be very different) that qualifies her to be considered for the office.