The Last Debate

John, Barack and Joe the Plumber, on the future of the country

IF THE THIRD and final debate offered the presidential candidates the opportunity, in some sense, to make their closing arguments to voters, viewers could be forgiven if they felt like jurors in an interminable trial. "By now, we've heard all the talking points, so let's try to tell the people tonight some things that they haven't heard," moderator Bob Schieffer of CBS said at the start of the debate. But the discussion last night, other than in regard to the odd focus on someone named "Joe the Plumber," largely replayed the by-now familiar clashes between Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama -- over tax policy, over health care, over spending. The much-anticipated fireworks fizzled. Mr. McCain, taking up Mr. Schieffer's offer to say it to his opponent's face, went after Mr. Obama's association with former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers -- "an old washed-up terrorist," Mr. McCain called him -- and questioned the Obama campaign's involvement with the community organizing group ACORN, which he said was "maybe destroying the fabric of democracy." But the attacks, under the present unhappy economic circumstances, including yesterday's 733-point drop in the Dow, seemed petty and unconvincing, and Mr. Obama appeared unrattled.

Given Mr. McCain's lag in the polls, it was inevitable that the debate would be viewed by many as Mr. McCain's last chance. Perhaps it was, but we were more interested in hearing last night, from the candidates, an explanation of what each would do in office -- specifically, more acknowledgment that changed economic circumstances would affect his governing agenda. Perhaps most disappointing, given his front-runner status, was Mr. Obama's response to the question. He acknowledged the need to prioritize -- "There is no doubt that we've been living beyond our means and we're going to have to make some adjustments" -- and then ticked off the same list of goals (education, health care, energy), each of which seemed to be his top priority.

On trade, Mr. Obama served up a disappointing echo of the objections of trade unions to free-trade agreements with Colombia and South Korea. He claimed that he opposed the deal with Colombia because trade union leaders there were being "targeted for assassination," though there has been a dramatic decrease in such killings; he said the problem with South Korea is that the United States could not sell enough cars there -- though free trade would make such exports easier. Mr. McCain's attempt to explain the benefits of the Colombia pact, like many of his ventures into policy details during the evening, was weak and garbled.

The debate did offer, once again, a useful crystallization of the two candidates' different approaches on tax policy and government spending, with Mr. McCain reiterating his commitment to low taxes and Mr. Obama describing a more progressive tax code and outlining the need to find revenue to make "investments." Mr. Schieffer usefully broadened the discussion to touch on Supreme Court appointments and education policy. Both candidates eschewed the notion of applying any litmus test on abortion, but Mr. McCain said he doubted that any strict constructionist judge would support Roe v. Wade, and Mr. Obama reaffirmed his belief that the Constitution protects the right to abortion.

As for Joe the Plumber, he declined to tell the Associated Press which way he is leaning.