Why McCain's Speech Made Me Sad

Watching John McCain's acceptance speech last night actually mad me sad. And not for any of the resons you're thinking.

The thing about the speech was, once you got past all the war hero/country first stuff, he actually laid out his vision for a more conservative government. Smaller government, fewer services, less taxes. This contrasts dramatically with Obama's vision for government that is a much more liberal/progressive stance. That's right. There's actually the potential for a real debate on the issues and on competing visions for where our country should go and how our government should get us there.

And yet the campaign has too often turned on personal slurs, slanders, and innuendoes. Unlike the Clinton/Obama campaign where they were close enough on the issues that we had to look to the personal for points of separation, the campaign between Obama and McCain has a clear contrast of visions for America's future.

I'm sad because all we're doing now is debating who's the bigger celebrity and who flip flops more politically.