Well, after two very under whelming debates, we finally got the debate we all have been waiting on. The first two debates seemed like poorly organized campaign speeches. We heard nothing we hadn't already heard on the campaign trail, and each candidate took every opportunity to recite their stump speeches. No hard questions were asked, and moderators went very easy on both candidates. Personally, I was greatly disappointed in the second debate. Touted as a town hall debate, I expected to see something similar to what I saw during the first ever town hall debate in 1992 between Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Ross Perot. Instead, I got a debate that was essentially the same as the first one, just with the audience asking the questions instead of the moderator. The questions were chosen by the moderator, Tom Brokaw, and the person only got to ask the question. They were not allowed to follow up or converse with the candidate.
Tonight, we saw a totally different strategy, both by the moderator and the candidates ... one candidate in particular. McCain came into this debate ready to throw punches. Like a boxer on the ropes, McCain came out fighting. He was ready to do any and every thing he could in order to get back into this race because, after all, he has no choice at this point. His back is to the wall. For the most part, at least to start off, I thought he was successful in his attempts. McCain came out tough and ready to throw punches. McCain's most successful part of the night is when he decided to totally separate himself from President Bush. "Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago." Personally, I only thought the first sentence was powerful. He looked right at Obama when he said it, and he was very direct. The second sentence was not necessary. I don't think anyone thinks that Obama would have preferred to run against Bush.
Surprisingly, McCain allowed Obama back into the fold when the topic of the debate switched to the subject of attack ads. It is clear now, as it has been for many months, that the people are tired of hearing about things that have nothing to do with the issues. He forced Obama to speak on his relationship with William Ayers and ACORN, and Obama handled the situation very well. He seemed as if he didn't even want to respond to such ridiculous attacks, but was only doing it because McCain would not leave it alone. Then, when that should have been the end of it, McCain kept coming back to it. He kept the conversation on unrelated negativity. You could literally feel the nation rolling its collective eyes. He began to look flustered, and could barely contain his disdain for Senator Obama. He no longer listened to Obama's answers, and would repeat the same falsehoods about Obama's policies over and over, even after Obama had already cleared them up.
McCain then tried to play the sympathy card by essentially saying his feelings were hurt when a reporter tied him to racial segregation. He said that anytime someone has said anything bad about Obama, he's repudiated it. Yet, when this reporter essentially called McCain racist, Obama said nothing. This was a key point in the debate for me. I was interested to see how Obama would respond to what I felt was a valid point. Obama took this as an opportunity to first speak on all the wildly negative, and quite frankly, scary things that McCain supporters have said about him. At Palin rallies, people have called him "Osama," a terrorist, and many other horrible things, with Palin saying nothing. This prompted the reporter to say what he said, to which the Obama campaign responded by saying the guy was out of line. Then the guy himself apologized. Once again, this should have been the end of it. McCain then surprisingly went on to essentially defend his supporters because they wear Vietnam hats. OK.
After the long stretch in which McCain seemed to want to focus on negative and lies, his head no longer seemed to be in the game. In the final half hour of the debate, the moderator took the debate into a new direction, asking them to speak on subjects we had not yet heard them speak on. He asked the candidates about health care. McCain asserted that Obama would charge a fine to "Joe the Plumber," a man who Obama had spoken to on the campaign trail earlier in the day, for not providing health care to his employees. He challenged Obama to say just how much that fine would be. Obama then explained his health care for what seemed like the millionth time. He explained that if you had a health care plan, you could keep it, and he would lower costs. If you didn't, you would be able to buy into the same plan he uses, and the costs would be low since so many other politicians use that plan. Then, he looked directly into the camera and said "Joe, you want to know how much your fine would be? 0." He then explained that small business owners are exempt from that fine, and would receive money in order to help them provide health care to their employees. He said it was the large companies, the ones that can afford to offer health care, that would be fined if they didn't. McCain's response, and I'm paraphrasing here "He's gonna charge you Joe, let's find out how much." Was he not paying attention?
Obama then shed some light on McCain's plan. McCain has said that his plan will offer a $5,000 tax credit to families. Obama then pointed out that what McCain doesn't tell you is that his plan will cause millions of people to lose their health care with their employer, and that McCain was going to tax health care benefits. He said the average cost of health care is $12,000/yr, so if you lose your health care and you get $5,000, you're still $7,000 in the hole. McCain's response, and I'm paraphrasing here ... well, he didn't respond.
The moderator then took the debate to the highly controversial subject of abortion. He asked the candidates if they could ever appoint someone to the Supreme Court who did not agree with them on Roe v. Wade. Obama, who is pro-choice, supports Roe v. Wade. McCain, who is pro-life, wants it overturned. To be fair, Obama did not really answer the question. He just said that he would base his decision on their qualifications. McCain took a different, much riskier route. He did answer the question ... eventually. After being pressed for an answer, McCain said he would also appoint based off of qualifications, but that anyone who didn't agree with him on Roe v. Wade wouldn't meet his qualifications. There goes the female vote!
Now for those of you who were not aware of the whole "Joe the Plumber" thing, the candidates were referencing a dialogue between Obama and a plumber named Joe that took place on the campaign trail earlier in the day. Basically, this guy told Obama that he didn't like Obama's tax plan because, as a new business owner who is making just over $250K/yr, his taxes would go up and it would be difficult for him to expand his business. McCain attempted to use this to his advantage by pointing out only Joe's half of the dialogue, and parlaying that into a lie about Obama raising everyone's taxes. He insinuated that Obama is attempting to stamp out the American dream by not allowing Joe to expand his business. That moment, and this entire campaign, should teach McCain and all politicians about running a campaign based on lies. Obama pointed out that his goal is to help people who are aspiring to be like Joe. He wants to help the people who want to be able to start their own business. Then, yet again, Obama had to explain the lie about his raising taxes. McCain claimed, and has been saying throughout the entire campaign, that Obama is going to raise taxes for people making more than 42K/yr. Obama responded with what, for me, was one of the best lines of the night when he said that all major media sources have cited that as untrue ... even Fox News, who rarely refutes any negativity thrown his way.
Although I've been a proponent of ending what Barack has called "silly season" in politics, it was about time that he got the opportunity to speak on all of the lies that McCain and his campaign have said about him. He got to speak on taxes, health care, William Ayers, ACORN, being called a terrorist, and all the other negative attacks that are thrown his way. This was the most exciting portion of the debate, and it swung the debate HEAVILY in Obama's favor. McCain never really seemed to recover. Afterward, the results poured in, and the people overwhelmingly felt Obama won the debate. CNN reported that Obama's favorability has gone up with every debate. In fact, all of his numbers have gone up with every debate. They've started to call the state of Virginia for Obama, which is a huge swing state. Essentially, we've reached a point where McCain would have to win all the swing states, even though Obama leads in a couple of them, as well as win over some states that look like they're going to Obama. In other words, in about 19 days, we can bet on being able to close the door on the prospect of John McCain Presidency. The closer we get to election day, the more worried I become ... but the more hopeful I become as well. True change is less than weeks away from happening in this country, and we can only hope that things continue in this direction. If they don't, we can expect the country to descend into a state in which we have not seen since the Civil War. I shudder to think about what will happen if Obama loses this election, both in the White House and in the streets.
Tonight, we saw a totally different strategy, both by the moderator and the candidates ... one candidate in particular. McCain came into this debate ready to throw punches. Like a boxer on the ropes, McCain came out fighting. He was ready to do any and every thing he could in order to get back into this race because, after all, he has no choice at this point. His back is to the wall. For the most part, at least to start off, I thought he was successful in his attempts. McCain came out tough and ready to throw punches. McCain's most successful part of the night is when he decided to totally separate himself from President Bush. "Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago." Personally, I only thought the first sentence was powerful. He looked right at Obama when he said it, and he was very direct. The second sentence was not necessary. I don't think anyone thinks that Obama would have preferred to run against Bush.
Surprisingly, McCain allowed Obama back into the fold when the topic of the debate switched to the subject of attack ads. It is clear now, as it has been for many months, that the people are tired of hearing about things that have nothing to do with the issues. He forced Obama to speak on his relationship with William Ayers and ACORN, and Obama handled the situation very well. He seemed as if he didn't even want to respond to such ridiculous attacks, but was only doing it because McCain would not leave it alone. Then, when that should have been the end of it, McCain kept coming back to it. He kept the conversation on unrelated negativity. You could literally feel the nation rolling its collective eyes. He began to look flustered, and could barely contain his disdain for Senator Obama. He no longer listened to Obama's answers, and would repeat the same falsehoods about Obama's policies over and over, even after Obama had already cleared them up.
McCain then tried to play the sympathy card by essentially saying his feelings were hurt when a reporter tied him to racial segregation. He said that anytime someone has said anything bad about Obama, he's repudiated it. Yet, when this reporter essentially called McCain racist, Obama said nothing. This was a key point in the debate for me. I was interested to see how Obama would respond to what I felt was a valid point. Obama took this as an opportunity to first speak on all the wildly negative, and quite frankly, scary things that McCain supporters have said about him. At Palin rallies, people have called him "Osama," a terrorist, and many other horrible things, with Palin saying nothing. This prompted the reporter to say what he said, to which the Obama campaign responded by saying the guy was out of line. Then the guy himself apologized. Once again, this should have been the end of it. McCain then surprisingly went on to essentially defend his supporters because they wear Vietnam hats. OK.
After the long stretch in which McCain seemed to want to focus on negative and lies, his head no longer seemed to be in the game. In the final half hour of the debate, the moderator took the debate into a new direction, asking them to speak on subjects we had not yet heard them speak on. He asked the candidates about health care. McCain asserted that Obama would charge a fine to "Joe the Plumber," a man who Obama had spoken to on the campaign trail earlier in the day, for not providing health care to his employees. He challenged Obama to say just how much that fine would be. Obama then explained his health care for what seemed like the millionth time. He explained that if you had a health care plan, you could keep it, and he would lower costs. If you didn't, you would be able to buy into the same plan he uses, and the costs would be low since so many other politicians use that plan. Then, he looked directly into the camera and said "Joe, you want to know how much your fine would be? 0." He then explained that small business owners are exempt from that fine, and would receive money in order to help them provide health care to their employees. He said it was the large companies, the ones that can afford to offer health care, that would be fined if they didn't. McCain's response, and I'm paraphrasing here "He's gonna charge you Joe, let's find out how much." Was he not paying attention?
Obama then shed some light on McCain's plan. McCain has said that his plan will offer a $5,000 tax credit to families. Obama then pointed out that what McCain doesn't tell you is that his plan will cause millions of people to lose their health care with their employer, and that McCain was going to tax health care benefits. He said the average cost of health care is $12,000/yr, so if you lose your health care and you get $5,000, you're still $7,000 in the hole. McCain's response, and I'm paraphrasing here ... well, he didn't respond.
The moderator then took the debate to the highly controversial subject of abortion. He asked the candidates if they could ever appoint someone to the Supreme Court who did not agree with them on Roe v. Wade. Obama, who is pro-choice, supports Roe v. Wade. McCain, who is pro-life, wants it overturned. To be fair, Obama did not really answer the question. He just said that he would base his decision on their qualifications. McCain took a different, much riskier route. He did answer the question ... eventually. After being pressed for an answer, McCain said he would also appoint based off of qualifications, but that anyone who didn't agree with him on Roe v. Wade wouldn't meet his qualifications. There goes the female vote!
Now for those of you who were not aware of the whole "Joe the Plumber" thing, the candidates were referencing a dialogue between Obama and a plumber named Joe that took place on the campaign trail earlier in the day. Basically, this guy told Obama that he didn't like Obama's tax plan because, as a new business owner who is making just over $250K/yr, his taxes would go up and it would be difficult for him to expand his business. McCain attempted to use this to his advantage by pointing out only Joe's half of the dialogue, and parlaying that into a lie about Obama raising everyone's taxes. He insinuated that Obama is attempting to stamp out the American dream by not allowing Joe to expand his business. That moment, and this entire campaign, should teach McCain and all politicians about running a campaign based on lies. Obama pointed out that his goal is to help people who are aspiring to be like Joe. He wants to help the people who want to be able to start their own business. Then, yet again, Obama had to explain the lie about his raising taxes. McCain claimed, and has been saying throughout the entire campaign, that Obama is going to raise taxes for people making more than 42K/yr. Obama responded with what, for me, was one of the best lines of the night when he said that all major media sources have cited that as untrue ... even Fox News, who rarely refutes any negativity thrown his way.
Although I've been a proponent of ending what Barack has called "silly season" in politics, it was about time that he got the opportunity to speak on all of the lies that McCain and his campaign have said about him. He got to speak on taxes, health care, William Ayers, ACORN, being called a terrorist, and all the other negative attacks that are thrown his way. This was the most exciting portion of the debate, and it swung the debate HEAVILY in Obama's favor. McCain never really seemed to recover. Afterward, the results poured in, and the people overwhelmingly felt Obama won the debate. CNN reported that Obama's favorability has gone up with every debate. In fact, all of his numbers have gone up with every debate. They've started to call the state of Virginia for Obama, which is a huge swing state. Essentially, we've reached a point where McCain would have to win all the swing states, even though Obama leads in a couple of them, as well as win over some states that look like they're going to Obama. In other words, in about 19 days, we can bet on being able to close the door on the prospect of John McCain Presidency. The closer we get to election day, the more worried I become ... but the more hopeful I become as well. True change is less than weeks away from happening in this country, and we can only hope that things continue in this direction. If they don't, we can expect the country to descend into a state in which we have not seen since the Civil War. I shudder to think about what will happen if Obama loses this election, both in the White House and in the streets.
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