In three weeks, if Barack Obama is elected president of the United States the fact that he is African-American will change our country's opportunities in the world. But, the great irony, as Victor Navasky puts it is that Obama himself cannot say anything about that. Nor can he say anything about the speech on race that he delivered during the primary, lest he revive the Jeremiah Wright controversy. There are many subtexts to this never ending election and on the eve of the final debate we discuss the shifting political landscape with Victor Navasky, publisher emeritus of The Nation and the author of Mission Accomplished, Jill Nelson, the author of Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience, and Mark Green, the president of Air America and author of Losing Our Democracy.

Find out what they would ask the candidates, why Wall Street has become a metaphor for capitalism, and how Obama should address ACORN and TrooperGate.

And how have the politics of oil shaped the ’08 election? Oil money still speaks loudly and both candidates have received their fair share of campaign contributions from the powerful lobby. That said, McCain has been the recipient of significantly more oil money and the Republican Party has placed offshore drilling and oil extraction at the center of its platform. “Drill Baby, Drill,” is now part of the political lexicon. Here to unpack the role of the oil industry in American politics and U.S. foreign relations is Antonia Juhasz, a visiting scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies and the author of The Tyranny of Oil.

Finally, Laura on Wall Street's big week and why it doesn't change the big picture. All that and more on GRITtv.