Update: No doubt about it: Obama won the debate

The political assessment of the show:
 
A condescending, patronizing, old man insulted a younger, smarter, more knowledgeable candidate whose respectful nature and command of the issues saw Obama stand his ground and become the change candidate surpassing the commander-in-chief barrier many causal voters have been waiting for.

McCain used the terms doesn’t “understand” repeatedly, but the facts aside, McCain came across as ungraceful and arrogant, even a bitter man seeing his self-perpetuating myth dissipate.
 
We’ll see if this assessment is reflected empirically in the coming days.