Civility?

Yesterday Senators Boama and McCain appeared together in New York, twice. did anybody hear about it? Once was to lay a wreath at Ground Zero, the second time as they passed each other on stage and embraced at a forum on public service at Columbia University, Obama's Alma Mater. Each candidate was interviewed for 45 minutes on their views on public service. Each of them said nice things about the other. McCain was a trifle more combative, but not really. There was no lipstick.

What struck me most clearly was Obama's directness. I saw this in his Bill O'Reily interview as well, but from a politician it is shocking and refreshing. Normally, when a politicians are asked questions they use them as a platform to launch into long, heavily nuanced explanations of their positions, usually repeating stuff they've said before. Obama has those nuanced explanations and he does trot them out, but when he was asked a yes or no question last night he didn't start with "You see..." or "That's why I've proposed..." or anything like that: he simply said "Yes" or "No" and then went on to explain why. He was direct concise but still demonstrated his grasp of the issues and argued his case.
Stunningly, one of the questions was "Should ROTC be brought back to Columbia" and he said simply "Yes" (More stunning was the fact that his yes got applause).

Wow! A yes or no answer! If for no other reason than this America should vote for this man.