At best, we get answers to the questions we ask

We got home a bit late last Friday and so missed the first part of the first McCain-Obama debate. They were just finishing up questions related to the recent economic hooptedoodle. The pundits seem to have declared that Barack Obama won the debate. Dunno if I agree with that. They seemed to be fairly evenly matched. Both spoke well to their base of supporters, but it didn't seem that they did much to win or alienate undecided voters.

Jim Lehrer asked good questions, but on very familiar topics, mostly to do with the Middle East. I wished that he'd presented some questions that involved the rest of the world.

• It would have been interesting, for example, to hear what the candidates are thinking about Brazil. We've learned that, because of increasing food prices and local politics, farmers have accelerated their clearing of the Brazilian rain forests. Also, s the result of the discovery of massive off-shore reserves, Brazil is on the verge of becoming a major oil producer, leading to an influx of cash for a country that is both one of the richest and poorest in Latin America.
• Oil and gas reserves are also having a major impact in Bolivia, with the side effect of that country telling the U.S. ambassador to leave.
• It would have instructive to hear the candidates discuss our complex relationships with China. It's been said that Wal-Mart creates its own weather. The force of its purchasing power has a major impact on our relations with China, causing us to turn our faces from human rights and environmental abuses so that we can get cheap coffee with just a hint of melamine.
• Could the candidates name the three countries with the largest Muslim populations? 

The world is big and complicated. It would be helpful to know that the candidates think big thoughts and are less concerned with parsing a phrase such as "without preconditions." The first debate didn't give us much that we didn't already know or didn't already want to hear. Betterluck next time.