Amidst all the drama, can we please remember one thing...?

[regnaD kciN]

Before the bailout meltdown and McCain's suspension, there was general agreement that this debate would be McCain's best chance to get back in the race. It's on his supposed strong point, foreign policy, and there was little doubt he'd turn it into a 90-minute Surge-O-Thon, touting how his approach brought "victory" to Iraq, and claiming Obama's "defeatocrat" attitude toward the surge "proves" he doesn't belong as Commander-in-Chief. Plus, McCain is a tenacious and tough debater, willing to stoop to lies, interruptions, and ridicule to win.

By this time on Monday, we were agreeing that this would be Obama's toughest test.

I see no reason why events of the past two days should change that.

I don't know if McCain is going to show up at the debate or not. But, if he does, I see no reason why he won't turn in a performance such as we predicted before. In other words, if and when he steps up to that podium in Oxford, we should expect this debate is going to be a real battle, and one where Obama (who lost one crucial day of debate prep over this circus) is going to have to play terrific defense as well as go on offense at times.

Assuming, because of the chaos around the "suspension," that McCain won't be at the top of his game is the real danger. It only diminishes expectations for him, and makes it easier for the media, who want this race to be close, to build the narrative that "everybody counted McCain out, but he comes back and hits a home run in the debate!"

I mean, think back to the first days of the G.O.P. convention. Remember how we were so gleefully certain that the wheels had come off the Palin pick, and that McCain might have to replace her? All it took was one written-by-others speech read off a teleprompter to turn Palin into "the new star of the American political firmament." (Of course, that star has faded and flamed out over time, but that doesn't change the impact she had in that first week.) It's a matter of exceeding lowered expectations, folks...nothing more. Please don't help them do it this time, too!