McCain's Just Not With It

In education, we talk alot about withitness, a heightened awareness of what's going on in a classroom at any given time.

Those super effective teachers who seemingly have eyes in the back of their head.

Unfortunately, most of us can instantly recall those teachers who just weren't "with it". No classroom management. No sense of anticipation. The why can't these students just behave and learn types. Likely quite intellectual people but with no real street smarts.

Take John McCain's performance during last night's Presidential debate, for instance.

The town hall debate was his chosen classroom of command. He should've owned the format. Instead, he shuffled back and forth about the stage in cautious step, referring to audience members as my friends enough to draw my attention away from his comments to consider if the man had developed a verbal tic over the course of the campaign.

He walked across camera at least twice, causing moderator Tom Brokaw to hike his head around McCain to order to read the teleprompter.

As if the bumbling physicality wasn't enough, McCain's comment about Social Security was enough to send anyone 50 or over running to early vote for Obama.

It was painful to watch.

At the conclusion of the debate, when the wives joined their husbands on the floor, all things staged came together for me in a moment of clarity.

I finally figured out why Cindy McCain is omnipotently present at her husband's side in beautiful shadow.

She gives John McCain withitness. She gives him street creds.

Without her, he looks a lot like the elderly character Tim Conway once played.

The Old Coot.