Senator McCain showed himself to be a remarkably good storyteller, and his crisp, staccato answers to policy questions provided clear and simple answers to how he claims he would act as president. His “My friends” folksiness wowed the audience, which comes from one of the most conservative districts in the U.S. Senator Obama had none of the instant answers that were McCain’s hallmark, but he came across as thoughtful, sincere, and quite nuanced in his responses. More important than the marked differences in style, the two men took vastly different positions on issues ranging from America’s role in the world to Supreme Court choices, abortion, energy and taxes. Their presentations underscored what we already know. This election will force Americans to choose between two very different visions of the U.S. role in the world and government’s role at home.

Depending on which candidate you support, you might call McCain a straight shooter, or dangerously reckless. Similarly, you could view Obama as supremely wise, or as a hesitant wimp. We’ll hear much more of this kind of name-calling in the weeks ahead, but there wasn’t any name-calling in church Saturday evening.

Rather than indulge in mindless name-calling during this election campaign, Americans would learn far more about their next president if they read the transcripts of this remarkable presentation and discover what each candidate revealed and hid about himself and his policies. The transcript can be found on the web at http://rickwarrennews.com/transcript/.

Goldsmith is a former director of the American Institute in Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Office, and author of “Jade Phoenix,” a prize-winning novel of 1970s Taiwan that is offered in a Far East edition by Bookman Books Ltd. in Taipei. Goldsmith can be reached at syd.goldsmith@gmail.com.

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