Dave Winer asked to talk with me for a few minutes this morning for a primary post-mortem. (Actually, post mortem is entirely the wrong term in this case, since both candidates’ campaigns are alive and kicking hard.) His post is here, and here’s a link to the audio.

Here’s something I mentioned that hasn’t gotten much media attention yet but will, I think, in coming months. One criterion that seems to have emerged in this election, thanks to Hillary’s ads, is, “Who do you want answering the White House phone at 3 AM?” Hillary says, “Trust me, you know I can handle it better than Obama.” Personally I don’t buy that. But the really important point is that, whichever of them ends up as the Democratic candidate, John McCain is going to step forward and tell Americans that he’s their 3 AM man.

This image of McCain as a figure of stability and trust is pure fiction. Just Google “McCain temper” and you’ll find a litany of observations from members of his own party that he is “irrational.” Former conservative Republican congressman John LeBoutillier has said, “I think he is mentally unstable and not fit to be president.”

I doubt there’s much evidence to go that far. But McCain’s temper is legendary. This apparently has nothing to do with his experience as a POW (which, according to some accounts, actually helped teach him to deal with a temper that had been even more volcanic before). It’s just part of his personality and leadership style.

I’ve worked for bulging-veined bosses. (Though not, fortunately, in a long time.) And I don’t want one running the country.

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