McCain 1 - Obama 0
Obama’s plan to make McCain angry and lose his cool back-fired. Not fatally, but Obama was flustered and it was obvious.
When the debate began, I was disappointed that John McCain didn’t bring up the Democrats’ cuplability in this whole financial mess we’re in. But as the night went on, I noticed that Obama constantly looked back. He continuously blamed George Bush and John McCain for everything that’s ever been wrong in the world.
As far as the economy goes, Obama said “invest, invest, invest.” To me that translates to “Spend, spend, spend and tax, tax, tax.” There are a lot of Americans that want something for nothing, but that’s not a winning strategy. I preferred John McCain’s answer about lowering corporate tax rates to keep businesses here in the USA.
All in all, Obama didn’t sound forward-looking, other than his big spending plans it was all hind sight. He also sounded very rehearsed, whereas, John McCain seemed right at home talking about foreign policy. Several times Obama said he agreed with John McCain, as if he were debating his foreign policy professor.
Another thing I found telling was toward the end of the debate. Barack Obama said that we are less safe now because of how we are perceived around the world. I would have liked to ask Obama how we were perceived while Bill Clinton was president and the terrorists were planning 9/11.
This wasn’t a total knock for McCain, but I believe that Obama looked rehearsed, young and naive. In these times I don’t know if that’s what the American people are looking for.
Popularity: 5% [?]
17 comments
Your first point (financial mess): the jury is still out, in Washington. Time will tell.
For the rest, it’s all Commander-in-Chief stuff, and Obama thinks John is right on most issues anyway.
Well, we know Bill and Hillary are voting for McCain, maybe Obama will, too!
McCain came across as professional, experienced, pragmatic and ready to lead. Obama came across as smooth, studied, idealistic and ready to follow.
I doubt any of us watching changed sides or views, but I would give this debate to McCain in terms of appearing ready to assume the Presidency.
I think whoever you favored going in felt like a winner coming out. I spoke with 5 people, 3 of whom i would consider Obama supporters and 2 as McCain supporters from previous conversations. All of them pretty much felt the same way you did that no one was made or broken by this debate.
I think McCain had an advantage by being able to mention things he did during the 90’s and earlier that Obama couldnt not rebute.
I think Obama tried to associate McCain and Bush too much, but after speaking with people who are most likely voting for him they felt that it was important to remind voters that the current administration has been the ones in charge during this time, even if it isnt all their fault, it still gets perceived that way.
I think McCain is trying his hardest to seperate himself from the current administration, but i think in the end the big (R) by his name on the ballot will hurt him more than help.
-Doug (a sensible democrat(i hope))
I thought McCain looked uncomfortable and out of his league. He repeated himself a number of times and allowed Obama to get under his skin on several occasions. He held up fairly well on the foreign policy exchange, but I didn’t see the advantage I expected. Considering this was supposed to Senator McCain’s strength, I was disappointed.
For me the debate started at 2 AM which has a tendancy to put me in a very pragmatic mood.
As much as many people would like to declare a winner and loser and will be willing to cite any reason including the color of their shoes or the style of their tie, I think that would be a mistake.
Both men won. They both were able to articulate their position. They both displayed their nature and their manner. They both handled debate tactics OK and they both made their points and attacked their opponents points with some degree of credulity.
With all the fluff stripped away from the campaigns and the venom of zealots neutralized with the antidote of reason, realists are faced with a clear choice. These are two competant men representing two fundamentally different positions. They are representing those position in a fashion that gives credit to the process and pause to those who will ultimately decide the election. The thoughtful, analytical, responsible middle of the road every day Americans will have to decide not on personality or sound bites but on substance and policy.
It wasn’t great theater but it was interesting. I’m sad that people will keep throwing darts rather than putting forth ideas that would make the process more productive. I believe that more than anything this election will be a litmus test of the electorate and give those that care to pursue one a direction to move for the future
The clear winner was McCain. Obama’s responses showed lack of knowledge and experience. In addition, the American people should realize that throughout the debate, Obama agreed with McCain pretty much on everything. Obama knew that his positions were untenable and were pushed into a corner on all of his responses. That is not leadership. He shows himself to be just a follower… as he has shown in his time in the Senate. He never disagreed with his party for the good of the country. On the other hand, McCain has a fierce streak of independence. Despite Obama’s efforts to tie McCain in with Bush, the American people know better than that. They know who McCain is and what he has done throughout his career. Of course McCain agreed with Bush lots of time… afterall he is also a conservative. However, he has also charted his own course over time. Obama has not done that.
I have a sense that the preceptions from this debate will not be readily apparent. Depending on how much attention people paid, what may come out of this is McCain saying Obama didn’t get it, a number of times, while Obama said McCain was right a number of times. If those two phrase sink in, then it’s a plus for McCain.
Also, I think with all the bailout talk, McCain stressing spending cuts will resonate better than Obama talking about spending more. I don’t think undecided voters want to hear about more spending on much of anything right now.
Where I think McCain scored best though, was in talking about foreign policy, he was able to say, I’ve been there, I know what it’s like there. Obama gives me the impression of someone who’s looking at a Risk gameboard, rather than the actual physical parameters of the area he’s talking about. I don’t think he’s really aware of how much tougher it will be in Afghanistan, simply because of the topography.
I felt that Obama tried too hard to place the economic down turn on the republican administration. Washington is in a blame game mode now and people want bi-patisan solutions to this financial crisis.Bill Clinton recently said that some congressional democrats blocked oversite measures for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
McCain is on record as having endorsed legislation in 2005 or 2006 that would have
added measures to tighten control of Fannie & Freddie. There may be enough blame to go around here but Obama, & Dodd received campaign donations from Fannie Mae, Dodd received over $160,000 from Fannie,a sweetheart loan deal from Countrywide and some money from Lehman Bros.Obama was #2 for donations from Fannie and the donation was over $100,000. These dollar figures have been published in the news.
The question is did these six figure dollar amounts influence their decisons ?
How about the Nancy Pelosi democrats playing politics with this nations energy future…
No clean coal,nuclear power plants and a sham of an offshore drilling plan.
Joe Biden said that clean coal is not in the energy package .In the debate Obama said that nuclear power,clean coal and offshore drilling are a part of the package.
Will Obama go up against Pelosi,Reid,Gore and now Biden ?
I wish McCain would have pointed out the difference between Obama’s plan and the Pelosi democrat’s plan
It’s not just the cost of fuel thats having a big impact on the inflation rate but the cost of petrochemicals ( derived from oil) as well.Some chemicals can be derived from coal and ethylene ( to produce polyethylene ) from natural gas.
Chemicals play a major role in our economic well being from ink & coating components to lubricants and plastics.
McCain wants to increase production of fossil fuels and now Obama is on board..
Barack Obama pummeled John McCain during the first nationally-televised Presidential Debate - a debate that was supposed to favor McCain due to its explicitly-stated focus on foreign policy.
Your article reminds me of the 1980 Presidential Debate - when the Carter people kept saying ‘we won…we won’ after the debate was over. The American viewing public didn’t see it that way - as a CBS phone-in poll showed Reagan winning by a 2 to 1 margin. Reagan won the election in a landslide.
On both style and substance, Obama was the clear winner. The American people saw it the same way. CNN has released a scientific viewer poll that shows the viewing public sees Obama as the winner of this debate by a 51%-38% spread.
http://democratictribune.com/obamawinsroundone.html
On line polls aren’t exactly scientific and CNN tends to attract Democrats. And last night it was the Obama peope saying “we won, we won”
CNN”s poll is typical of CNN. Fox News poll was 84% to 14% favoring McCain.
Thanks, Z!
OK, I’ll try again. Can’t remember what got deleted.
BTW: I’ve posted somthing at American Sentinel, “Two Americas, Two Debates, Two Conclusions.” It’s at http://theamericansentinel.com/2008/09/27/two-americas-two-debates-two-conclusions/.
I’m with you re: McCain not going for the historical responsibility of the Democrats in Congress, plus the Clintons, for at least Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
What struck me, overall, is that there seemed to be one adult on the stage, excluding the moderator. And that adult, John McCain, represented optimism and bi-partisanship and a “country’ first” attitude that the other debater appears inable or unwilling to understand or express.
As I watch Obama’s peevishness, which bordered on fury at times, I was also struck that this was the first time he’s ever debated a real man, one who will not fall over and surrender.
And that he, Obama, really does not take kindly to anyone calling his hand on his lies and distortions.
Nor does Obama care for anyone disagreeing with him.
Given last night’s debate, I expect Obama to be even more rude and more of an over-talker than he was last night.
I give him credit for not being the bumbler I thought he would be without a teleprompter.
But I wonder: Did he have microphones implanted in his ears, getting coaching from his advisers?
Just kidding. Or am I?
[...] The Lonely Conservative: McCain 1 - Obama 0 [...]
Well, another senior moment.
At the end of what I wrote, I meant to say: I wonder if Obama had earpieces implanted in his ears, so he could receive coaching from his advisers.
CKA-there weren’t too many er’s this time. I caught a few. Great article!
I didn’t even catch the “microphone” till you pointed it out:)
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