Cowardly Obama Ducking Town Hall Meetings

What a baby. For all this jive about hope and change, the reality is becoming more clear by the day. Barack Obama cannot function without a prepared speech, is afraid of being flummoxed by the more experienced candidate, and without his media cheerleaders there to wave their pom-poms for him, would probably get his clock cleaned.

The talks between the McCain and Obama campaigns on debates appear to have broken down, with Obama's campaign — evidently concluding that the format could favor McCain, or at least give McCain some oxygen — offering just one town hall and one extra debate in response to McCain's suggestion of 10.

"We fear that our negotiations over joint town hall meetings are turning into a debate about process," McCain campaign manager Rick Davis writes to Obama campaign manager David Plouffe. "That is exactly what we have always hoped to avoid, and why we proposed a town hall format that would render many of these process issues moot. As Sen. Obama has said, he is prepared to meet 'anywhere, anytime' for a town hall."

Plouffe responds that “it’s disappointing that Sen. McCain and his campaign decided to decline this proposal. Apparently they would rather contrive a political issue than foster a genuine discussion about the future of our country."

UPDATE: The single town hall Obama agreed to would be on the Fourth of July weekend, a guarantee of a small audience which McCain spokesman Brian Rogers referred to as a "total joke."