I don’t know how many of you have been following the American Presidential Race, but I’ve noticed that this one has been particularly bitter and cutthroat, and the fact we’re embraced by the Information Age plays no small part in it. It is easier to find the dirt to sling thanks to background searches on the cheap along with the advances of Google and Wikipedia. Mud-slinging has long been the favorite tactic of the politician; now it’s just easier to dig to the mud.

It’s unfortunately gotten to the point that I feel I know so little about the good of any candidate. I know just  about every single skeleton in the closets of McCain, Obama, and Palin — Biden’s been oddly untouched by the media. I was fortunate to watch the Saddleback Forum and hear McCain and Obama give answers on the same subjects, which made me like Obama more than I had, but I found myself still more enamored by McCain. In that forum, I felt McCain had stronger, clearer convictions. He was able to answer quickly and to the point, throwing in the occasional joke. He talked like most of the people I have grown up around. Obama on the otherhand, came off to me as unsure of himself and his answers. He scanned the audience a lot which made me feel he was reading their reactions before saying anything.

After the forum, Obama supporters claimed that they must have given McCain the questions before hand. I doubt that is the case, but I do have this to say. They’ve both had these questions long before the forum was announced. They’re hot button issues, many have been around for at least the last four presidential campaigns I’ve been old enough to remember. They weren’t new. Others were more current issues, but they’re still at the forefront. The fact that Obama’s supporters feel he was unprepared compared to McCain makes me wonder if Obama even thinks about these matters when he’s not in front of a camera or podium.