The BOOM We have Been Waiting For

Mark Halperin has the news:

The former Bush Secretary of State crosses party lines to endorse Obama, citing his “ability to inspire and lead.”

Says the Illinois Senator dives deeply into issues and tackles them with a steady hand.

Makes the announcement on Sunday’s “Meet the Press.” Says he plans to vote– but not campaign– for Obama.

Powell also criticizes McCain’s negative ads, says he’s concerned by the choice of Palin as VP.

It’s The Temperament, Stupid

Georgie Packer on McCain’s change over the course of the election:

The contrast now is so severe that it makes running for President seem like a personal disaster on the scale of a prolonged nervous breakdown leading to physical and psychological ruin. This campaign has done something terrible to McCain. And it’s entirely his own fault. Character is fate.

And Obama’s perennial steadiness:

Obama’s character is a political triumph. His cool, unlike McCain’s tic-filled anger, is tactically deployed; throughout the campaign it’s become his main weapon against crisis and attack.

But…

But if he wins, he’ll need to play far more of his psychic register to have any chance of succeeding at the impossible job he’s so skillfully pursued. He’ll have to draw on humor, on empathy, on audacity, on courage, in order to inspire the kind of confidence the country badly lacks and needs. He might even have to get angry.

What McCain Is Doing

Sullivan sums it up well. I am getting more scared, angry, frustrated, and disgusted every minute:

There was always going to be a point of revolt and panic for a core group of Americans who believe that Obama simply cannotbe president – because he’s black or liberal or young or relatively new. This is that point. As the polls suggest a strong victory, the Hannity-Limbaugh-Steyn-O’Reilly base are going into shock and extreme rage. McCain and Palin have decided to stoke this rage, to foment it, to encourage paranoid notions that somehow Obama is a “secret” terrorist or Islamist or foreigner. These are base emotions in both sense of the word.

But they are also very very dangerous. This is a moment of maximal physical danger for the young Democratic nominee. And McCain is playing with fire. If he really wants to put country first, he will attack Obama on his policies – not on these inflammatory, personal, creepy grounds. This is getting close to the atmosphere stoked by the Israeli far right before the assassination of Rabin.

For God’s sake, McCain, stop it. For once in this campaign, put your country first.

Stump the Candidate

Scott Bateman of Salon responds to actual audio from the candidate as she takes questions on her foreign policy experience. It’s brilliant.