Presidential Debate No. 1 Reaction And Roundup
By Doug Mataconis | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, McCainFor a debate that was originally intended to focuses exclusively on foreign policy, there was a point during the evening where I wondered if we’d see more than a prefunctory focus on matters outside the United States.
From the beginning and for the first 40 minutes, Jim Lehrer kept the focus solely and exclusively on the financial crisis that nearly led to a postponment of the debate, and it’s impact on the American economy. While Obama focused on the traditional Democratic themes of blaming the crisis on the greed of Wall Street speculators and insufficient regulation from Washington, the Republican candidate responded by……..blaming the crisis on the greed of Wall Street speculators and insufficient regulation from Washington. Not once, despite ample evidence he could cite to support it, did McCain mention the role that government played in the loosening of credit that led to the housing bubble that created the credit crisis we are in today. Instead, he repeated what Obama said and essentially handed that issue to his opponent.
When the focus shifted to the budget, McCain continued his admirable, if somewhat misplaced, focus on the relatively minor issue of earmarks while Obama contrasted his tax cut plan with that of his opponents, and promised tax relief to middle class America. My guess is that people are going to like hearing about tax cuts, even if reality means that those cuts won’t happen.
Then Jim Lehrer asked both candidates the question they didn’t want to answer — what impact would the current financial crisis, and the estimated $ 700 billion bailout cost, have on their plans for tax cuts and spending. In the end, neither candidate was able to look the American public in the eye and admit that whatever promises they might have made over the past eighteen months are out the window thanks to an unforseen budget item that will pretty much eat up whatever additional spending they might have had in mind. On this one, both candidates played the artful dodger; neither one of them wanted to admit that external circumstances created by the housing market and credit crisis would force them to scale back their grandiose visions for reform — that can wait until January 21, 2009.
On the whole, it seemed as though the economic policy segment of the debate was an even match between the candidates. Neither one of them said anything that was likely to hurt them, and neither one of them said anything that seems likely to hit the ball out of the park.
Then, finally, we moved on to the reason for the debate to begin with, foreign policy.
For the most part, I thought McCain did okay here, but not to the extent that he really outpeformed Obama.
On Iraq, he focused almost exclusively on his advocacy of the surge a year and a half ago, and failed to acknowledge the three years of mistakes, many of them policy decisions he supported, that made the surge necessary. More importantly, it seems obvious that McCain doesn’t think that the American public cares that much about the reasons we went into Iraq back in 2003; I’m guessing that he’s misreading that but I don’t know how much of an impact it will have on the election.
On Iran, Obama and McCain engaged in what ultimately seems to be a silly debate about preconditions vs. preparations when it comes to talking with the regime in Tehran, and McCain clearly mis-stated Henry Kissinger’s position on the proper way to engage the Iranians diplomatically.
The thing about the foreign policy portion of the debate that struck me though was this; while McCain clearly came across as more comfortable, even more knowledgable, when it came to foreign affairs, Barack Obama didn’t stumble, didn’t make a mistake, and didn’t say anything that would clearly hurt him in the campaign.
For that reason, I think that this debate was a draw and, given the fact that Obama is the one challenging the status quo in this election, that makes it a victory for Obama.
Before the debate, all the polls were trending in Obama’s favor. Since McCain did nothing tonight that could come close to being called a game-changer, I would suspect that will continue after tonight.
This entry was posted on Saturday, September 27th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Barack, McCain. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
September 27th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
I honestly came out of this debate feeling as if I hadn’t really been provided with any new information on where the candidates wanted to take the country, since both were basically leaning on their respective ideological posts. From McCain we heard about cutting taxes, eliminating pork (to pay for those taxes, yet how many times he thinks 300 goes into 18 is less than clear to me) and honor in Iraq. From Obama we heard about the need to refocus the Federal government on American middle-class families and the benefits of proactive diplomacy. Neither told me what they thought of the specific plan in front of us to rescue the financial system.
What was most telling to me was that neither candidate really wanted to engage the other, particularly on the economy. Jim Lehrer had to fight reasonably hard to get them to use the five minutes of debate time as originally intended.
I couldn’t decipher who I thought was a clear winner, although I do think that Obama probably reassured some undecided voters that he could foot it as Commander-in-Chief (but McCain still has something of an advantage here).
September 27th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
I actually thought McCain made some mistakes in regards to certain foriegn policy aspects like his comment that pakistan was a failed state before the Musharraf coup when it was not. he also had no answer for the assertion he would not meet with spain. I think the preconditions debate may seem minor but is actually important because it means mccain wont be meeting with people where obama might. Also his policy regarding russia and the ukraine made little sense.
According to the Wapo McCain also misstated his Lebanon vote
McCain seriously misstated his vote concerning the marines in Lebanon. He said that when he went into Congress in 1983, he voted against deploying them in Beirut. The Marines went in Lebanon in 1982, before McCain came to Congress. The vote came up a year into their deployment, when the Marines had already suffered 54 casualties. What McCain voted against was a measure to invoke the War Powers Act and to authorize the deployment of U.S. Marines in Lebanon for an additional 18 months. The measure passed 270-161, with 26 other Republicans (including McCain) and 134 Democrats voting against it.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/220181.php
There is plenty of other stuff but i think mccain actually made more substantive mistakes than obama did.
October 4th, 2008 at 9:40 am
I personally felt that for most of the debate McCain seemed to be hanging onto Obama’s coat-tails on most issues, rarely introducing his own points and often resulting to “heartfelt” anecdotes about the men and women of America’s military and their families.
While I have no problem with McCain offering up these stories, it seemed to evoke memories of President Bush’s tactics during his debates with Kerry in 2004. I realize that emotional appeals can be a powerful tool in showing that a candidate is “in touch” with the nation, but McCain would often use these stories to sidestep actually answering a question.
Obama on the other hand stuck to keeping his arguments mostly point-based. He did digress several times, such as his reply “I have a bracelet too.”, after McCain talked about a bracelet given to him by the mother of a soldier who was lost in combat.
I felt that Obama was a much better orator and for me that is something that I have been missing for 8 years, made all the more disheartening after having one of the best presidential orators in our nation’s history with Clinton. I admit that I am biased, as I went into this debate hoping that Obama would come out on top, but I feel that McCain’s often condescending remarks “What Mr. Obama doesn’t understand” may come back to haunt him, as it strikes a disonant chord that I have heard echoed by more than a couple of people. While Obama may not have the foreign policy experience that McCain does McCain went about bringing that out in the wrong way. Let’s also not forget that McCain’s “Friend of over 30 years” Henry Kissinger was correctly quoted by Obama and not his long-time friend. Perhaps 30 years of experience isn’t as valuable as McCain brazenly believes.
I look forward to watching the next debate.