This past week, the campaign of the Republican candidate, John McCain, seems to have hit a bit of a snag.

Andrew Sullivan wrote in the internet blog of the Atlantic magazine: "In rode the man on the white horse, whom no one really needed. And when he got there, he didn’t resolve the impasse, and he didn’t propose a plan. He just sat there, er, blinking. Now he’s tied himself into the comic position that if this deal isn’t made by tonight, he won’t show up at the debate, so there. It’s like a seventeen year old going to their room and slamming the door when he can’t be the center of attention."

Well, the debate actually happened and the tale of the tape in an instant telephone poll by CNN and Opinion Research Corporation scored a decisive win for Barrack Obama among 524 debate watchers.

51 percent said Senator Obama and 38 percent said Senator McCain did better in the debate.

The Democrat led 58 to 37 percent on handling the economy, and a narrower edge of 52 to 47 percent on the Iraq war.

Another snap poll by CBS News and Knowledge Networks of about 500 uncommitted voters had 39 percent saying Senator Obama was the winner against 24 percent for Senator McCain. A total of 37 percent said it was a draw.

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According to internet reports: "It was a bad day at CBS for Republican candidates John McCain and Sarah Palin. It started with CBS News anchorwoman Katie Couric and ended with late night host David Letterman, and between the two, it looks like some serious damage might have been done to the GOP ticket.

"In a particularly wild day on the campaign trail, TV news was at the center of events – mostly in the person of Couric. Beyond getting two exclusive interviews with John McCain and Sarah Palin, the veteran newswoman served viewers extremely well in her superb handling of the Republican candidates."

The problem was self-inflicted. McCain announced that he wanted to delay Friday’s debate so that the two candidates could help resolve the country’s economic crisis. Obama responded: "This is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who, in approximately 40 days, will be responsible for dealing with this mess."

When asked by Couric about specific examples that make McCain a "maverick," Sarah Palin, his vice presidential choice said: "I’ll try to find you some, and I’ll bring them to you."

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It was expected that McCain would do well in the first debate which was on foreign affairs. After all, Obama does not have much experience on this and McCain has been in the legislature for decades.

McCain, however, came off like an older man who has lost touch with reality and relies on his friendships with world leaders for what he expects to do in his dealings with other countries. But the American public knows that the United States of America is the sole superpower of the world, thus, how does John McCain with saying that he is on fist-name basis with, say, Gloria Arroyo as president of what most Americans regard as a non-entity like the Philippines or any other world leaders whose names mean nothing to the average American voter.

McCain tried to show that Senator Obama was clueless about what foreign affairs is all about; yet, the Democrat spoke with sincerity and knowledge about every country that was mentioned and every issue that was brought forward.

That Obama beat McCain in the first debate cannot be questioned.

Most viewers felt that Obama, who was not expected to do well (in the first debate on foreign affairs) did well enough and McCain (who was expected to whip the younger man) came off like a man who is "out of touch."

Actually, just by not losing on the debate on foreign affairs, where McCain has years of experience on the subject, Obama already won the audience’s approval. The impression I got was that McCain came off like a grandfather arguing with a grandson who knew more about the subject than the older man. Thus, that Obama won this first encounter is actually a no-brainer.

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Can Barrack Obama actually win the election? Will White America allow it? Luckily for Obama, all America – white and black - is right now engrossed in the financial problems as a result of what is considered as widespread mismanagement by the Bush administration.

America will go for anyone who has a plan to fix America. Thus, Senator Obama may well have the best chance ever for a non-white to actually win in a US national election.

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It is always something of a revelation how politicians in the United States can speak to each other with civility even when they totally disagree with one another. Why does this seem impossible among our politicians who seem to have a black or white view of just about any issue presented to them?

It is refreshing that in the United States, our democracy mentor, they can disagree vehemently with one another and still be civil enough to have useful conversations with each other. This is something that our politicians must learn. This is also what makes watching US politics interesting for someone like me who is appalled at the hypocrisy of Philippine politics, where politicians strongly state their positions only to negate these later by what they actually do when called to act.

US politics is more honest than the Philippine variety.

We learned from our Great White Brother but did not learn enough to do as good a job as they do with their politics.