If you have kept abreast of the issues and the candidates and where they stand, then you did not need to watch the first presidential debate held at the University of Mississippi. There was little surprise.

There was occasionally some sparring between Obama and McCain. Words and phrases repeated for effect from McCain such as “you don’t understand.” And Obama’s “You were wrong, John.” Overall it was a good solid debate, no missteps, no stumbles, no fumbles, much passion and a little heat.

An effective debater needs to have confidence, solid research, deep knowledge and interesting anecdotes. One did not need to watch this debate to learn anything of substance or difference between the two nominees, but one did need to watch the body language, cues and codes that were obvious to this political observer. McCain has revealed his political future. He revealed it through his military anecdotes that brought him to a proclamation of unconditional love for American veterans.

The dispassion of the moderator Jim Lehrer stood in sharp relief to the passion of the candidates.  Mr. Lehrer tried to get the two men to engage each other directly with little result. How about that body language?

Aside from the apparent body language and tense looks; at some point in the debate I saw two words: “loser” was stamped on John McCain’s forehead and at another point in the debate saw a floating banner over Barack Obama that said “president.”  Then there was the passion of McCain when he said that “he loved the veterans and that he would take care of them.” He also said twice, that he would never be elected “miss congeniality in the senate.” Can you say “high negatives?” The veterans aren’t buying that he loves them; they recently graded him a D, while Obama was given a B.

The revelation was clear: McCain opened a window on his future in politics: from his senate seat he would devote the rest of his life to the love of his life—the war veteran. He will reconnect with his senate seat. He will take the same advice Heloise gave to Hillary “reconnect with your senate seat, and learn to love it, because that is where you will be for the balance of your political career.” From his senate seat will he reach across the aisle to a “President Obama?” During this rumble he joked that Obama was too far to the left to reach across the aisle. Obama smiled.  He couldn’t say your arms and temperament were too short to reach across the aisle.