What did you think about the debate last night? Did you watch?
My son attends OleMiss, where the debate was held and the students found it a bit of a hassle. I guess it was sort of like living in a Spring Break town. The students were not allowed to attend and the debate committee requested 13,000 parking spaces for the event! I don’t know if you’ve been to the University of Mississippi but, like most college campuses, parking is a bit of a nightmare. They called off school for the day to keep all the students away. When I first heard the debate was going to be held at OleMiss I was very excited for my son to be part of this historic event. I was sorry when it turned out they were not going to be able to participate. He did call me last night to say the motorcade passed right behind his car as he went about delivering pizzas. Not exactly what I had in mind, but okay!
I watched the debate with a great deal of interest. Naturally they led off with a question about the financial bailout package. Senator Obama supported some sort of help for homeowners and some benefit to taxpayers when the market revives and opposed big payoffs for company executives. He also took the opportunity to trot out his Wall Street vs. Main Street bumper sticker line a couple of times. Senator McCain said he would vote for the plan. Mainly, they both focused on what had caused the problem and what steps they were going to take to avoid a similar situation in the future. Senator Obama did say they had not seen the actual language of the proposal. Jim Lehrer tried to get each candidate to pinpoint some aspect of their plans for the future, which they would be willing to give up in light of the huge debt that this bailout plan represents. Not surprisingly, neither candidate was willing to be pinned down on a specific answer to this very specific question.
In a related question about the fundamental differences between the two candidates in relation to their tax and spending plans, both candidates took the opportunity to obfuscate and mangle the truth about the other’s plans and voting record. Surely they are aware that hundreds, if not thousands, of people will be fact-checking every reference and publishing their findings. Do they think that we, the people, won’t be checking? This is one aspect of the campaign that fascinates me. Since I have learned to be dubious about any candidate’s claim regarding what his opponent has been up to, and don’t have time to fact-check on the fly as they are tearing each other up, this question was moot for me.
The rest of the questions dealt with the big issue of the night, foreign affairs. They touched on Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Russia. In discussing the war in Iraq, Senator McCain admits the war was badly mishandled in the beginning but believes we have things in hand now and should continue on. Senator Obama agreed that things seem to be going better now but feels the war in Iraq was not a wise use of our military strength. He feels we were not done in Afghanistan and that we should focus our energies there. Again, they both took the opportunity to misrepresent the other’s voting record on this issue.
Having just read “Three Cups of Tea” and been profoundly moved by the story therein, I was anxious to hear the two candidates address the issue of Pakistan. Senator Obama seemed to say that if Pakistan would not actively root out al-Qaeda in its Waziristan region along the border with Afghanistan then we need to go in there and do it for them. Senator McCain feels we should not cut off aid to Pakistan and that we need to do all we can to engender the support of the Pakistani people. Again, after “Three Cups of Tea”, I was in complete agreement on this point with McCain. I hope “doing all we can” in Pakistan will include becoming aware and supportive of Greg Mortenson’s mission of promoting peace through education. McCain mentioned that he wore a vet’s bracelet, given to him by a grieving mother who asked him to make sure her son had not died in vain, giving her support to the war. Obama countered with his own vet’s bracelet given to him by a grieving mother who was against the war. They cancelled each other out on the bracelet issue and could have saved a few minutes of time by leaving out the obvious emotional pandering. Both candidates agreed that the U.S. really dropped the ball in Afghanistan when we withdrew our support at the end of what became popularly known as “Charlie Wilson’s war” in 1989.
Both candidates seemed to basically agree on the issue of Russian aggression and their opposition to it. Iran was a hot topic, with Senator McCain wanting to form a league of democratic nations to impose sanctions. Senator Obama pointed out that Russia and China do significant business with Iran and, unless they were included, any sanctions would have limited effect.
I’m sure Senator McCain felt he had Obama beat in the foreign affairs category before they even started. I found him smug and snarky with his constant name-dropping and references to his travels and oft-repeated, “Senator Obama doesn’t understand.” I’m sure he was told to play up his experience and Obama’s lack thereof but I think he overplayed his hand and it didn’t serve him well.
Personally, I didn’t see a clear winner or loser in last night’s debate. Did you?
My son attends OleMiss, where the debate was held and the students found it a bit of a hassle. I guess it was sort of like living in a Spring Break town. The students were not allowed to attend and the debate committee requested 13,000 parking spaces for the event! I don’t know if you’ve been to the University of Mississippi but, like most college campuses, parking is a bit of a nightmare. They called off school for the day to keep all the students away. When I first heard the debate was going to be held at OleMiss I was very excited for my son to be part of this historic event. I was sorry when it turned out they were not going to be able to participate. He did call me last night to say the motorcade passed right behind his car as he went about delivering pizzas. Not exactly what I had in mind, but okay!
I watched the debate with a great deal of interest. Naturally they led off with a question about the financial bailout package. Senator Obama supported some sort of help for homeowners and some benefit to taxpayers when the market revives and opposed big payoffs for company executives. He also took the opportunity to trot out his Wall Street vs. Main Street bumper sticker line a couple of times. Senator McCain said he would vote for the plan. Mainly, they both focused on what had caused the problem and what steps they were going to take to avoid a similar situation in the future. Senator Obama did say they had not seen the actual language of the proposal. Jim Lehrer tried to get each candidate to pinpoint some aspect of their plans for the future, which they would be willing to give up in light of the huge debt that this bailout plan represents. Not surprisingly, neither candidate was willing to be pinned down on a specific answer to this very specific question.
In a related question about the fundamental differences between the two candidates in relation to their tax and spending plans, both candidates took the opportunity to obfuscate and mangle the truth about the other’s plans and voting record. Surely they are aware that hundreds, if not thousands, of people will be fact-checking every reference and publishing their findings. Do they think that we, the people, won’t be checking? This is one aspect of the campaign that fascinates me. Since I have learned to be dubious about any candidate’s claim regarding what his opponent has been up to, and don’t have time to fact-check on the fly as they are tearing each other up, this question was moot for me.
The rest of the questions dealt with the big issue of the night, foreign affairs. They touched on Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Russia. In discussing the war in Iraq, Senator McCain admits the war was badly mishandled in the beginning but believes we have things in hand now and should continue on. Senator Obama agreed that things seem to be going better now but feels the war in Iraq was not a wise use of our military strength. He feels we were not done in Afghanistan and that we should focus our energies there. Again, they both took the opportunity to misrepresent the other’s voting record on this issue.
Having just read “Three Cups of Tea” and been profoundly moved by the story therein, I was anxious to hear the two candidates address the issue of Pakistan. Senator Obama seemed to say that if Pakistan would not actively root out al-Qaeda in its Waziristan region along the border with Afghanistan then we need to go in there and do it for them. Senator McCain feels we should not cut off aid to Pakistan and that we need to do all we can to engender the support of the Pakistani people. Again, after “Three Cups of Tea”, I was in complete agreement on this point with McCain. I hope “doing all we can” in Pakistan will include becoming aware and supportive of Greg Mortenson’s mission of promoting peace through education. McCain mentioned that he wore a vet’s bracelet, given to him by a grieving mother who asked him to make sure her son had not died in vain, giving her support to the war. Obama countered with his own vet’s bracelet given to him by a grieving mother who was against the war. They cancelled each other out on the bracelet issue and could have saved a few minutes of time by leaving out the obvious emotional pandering. Both candidates agreed that the U.S. really dropped the ball in Afghanistan when we withdrew our support at the end of what became popularly known as “Charlie Wilson’s war” in 1989.
Both candidates seemed to basically agree on the issue of Russian aggression and their opposition to it. Iran was a hot topic, with Senator McCain wanting to form a league of democratic nations to impose sanctions. Senator Obama pointed out that Russia and China do significant business with Iran and, unless they were included, any sanctions would have limited effect.
I’m sure Senator McCain felt he had Obama beat in the foreign affairs category before they even started. I found him smug and snarky with his constant name-dropping and references to his travels and oft-repeated, “Senator Obama doesn’t understand.” I’m sure he was told to play up his experience and Obama’s lack thereof but I think he overplayed his hand and it didn’t serve him well.
Personally, I didn’t see a clear winner or loser in last night’s debate. Did you?
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