Even if Senator John McCain moon-walked across the stage during last night's presidential debate, it wouldn't have helped to restore his maverick image. It's clear, after three debates between McCain and Senator Barack Obama, that McCain's time to become president has passed.

McCain wandered into quicksand about three weeks ago. The facial ticks, the snarls, and the agitated stares keep pulling him down. Soon all we'll see is his muttering head.

The popular explanation of McCain's slide in the polls has been the public's attention on the economy. But McCain's image as the self-proclaimed political maverick hasn't lived up to the reality.

The spotlight has shown McCain to be an angry, arrogant, and at times, petty man. That may explain why even Republicans have never fully embraced him.

Last night, as McCain sneered about protecting the health of the mother during the abortion argument, we saw a woefully out-of-touch man making air quotes, not a maverick.

His pardoning of Governor Palin's crowd-baiting tactics showed us that it isn't just McCain's policies that resemble George Bush's. It's his character, too.

Joe Six-pack hasn't rescue McCain's campaign, and it is unlikely Joe the Plumber will either.

Obama may be the first candidate to speak plainly to both Joes about taxes. Improvements in education and health care are not going to be free.

We can't issue mandates like No Child Left Behind and expect that rigorous reform happens on its own. Even when government work is privatized, it isn't performed free of charge.

The country is in crisis in multiple ways, and our problems seem to be snowballing.

Are either of these two men a Lincoln, a Roosevelt ,or a Kennedy? Probably not. But if a quick cure to the country's ailments is not realistic, and many Americans seem to know that it isn't, it's probably better to have Obama nurse us through the worst of these times than to have McCain operating on the wrong leg.