NATIONAL SECURITY

This space long has argued that national security defines the federal government's principal obligation. The president performs many roles. None surpasses that of commander-in-chief in importance. Issues relating to defense and foreign policy belong at the top of party platforms. As it opened, the 2008 campaign offered the potential for a compelling debate on America's place in the world. John McCain and Barack Obama ably articulate competing visions. Yet the economic crisis ensured that a sustained exchange would not occur. The first debate, for instance, was supposed to focus on national security. The economy led the agenda and proved of greater interest to viewers. Although foreign policy retains its heft, it seems safe to say the election will not hinge on the candidates' positions on NATO. Potential secretaries of the treasury have vaulted over potential secretaries of defense and potential secretaries of state in the public imagination.

 

THE DEBATES

ROSS MACKENZIE

What'd you think about the debate? McCain-Obama II? Actually, that one and Palin-Biden. Both. Let's start with Palin-Biden. She had him for lunch -- blew him away. It wasn't even close. But he was so smooth, uptown, on top of his facts. She was so -- you know -- provincial, down-home, just-folks. Exactly -- you make my point. Despite the press fencing him as a "lunch-bucket Democrat," he came across less as "smooth" than as too slick by half. Along the way he has fuzzed his bio facts, saying he had been shot at in Baghdad -- as Hillary did when she claimed she and Chelsea had been targets on the tarmac in Tuzla. He also has said FDR went on television during the Depression -- an impossibility, of course, because television was still being invented.

 

QUIZ TIME

A. BARTON HINKLE

Everybody enjoys quizzes. Everyone's doing them, too -- from The New Yorker to ABC News to Media General's Washing ton bureau. Here's another one to help distract you from the day's grim tidings. Answers appear at the end. No peeking. (1)Craig Bieber is (a) A personal-injury attorney (b) The substitute host for late-night comic Jimmy Kimmel