Real Kato Blog: Obama-McCain Debate #1

My prediction prior to the seeing Friday's debate was that all the presidential debates would be cordial and dull. But with some prodding by moderator Jim Lehrer, Obama and McCain finally did engage in some sparring.

McCain, for his part, seemed to want to hammer home the idea that he was the anti-spending candidate, while throwing in occasional jabs that Obama was against the troop surge.

Obama's major talking point was about how the Republicans' laissez-faire policies have led to the current financial crisis. And to counter arguments by McCain about Iraq, he made frequent mention of the fact that conditions in Afghanistan have gotten worse while we've been preoccupied with Iraq.

Oh, and there was a protracted and pendantic discussion of whether it would be a good idea to meet with Iranian president Ahmadinedaj "without preconditions". Hint for both candidates: nobody cares about this issue.

So my impression of the debate is this: McCain probably scored some points by hammering on spending cuts. (Obama should probably have countered by asking whether McCain would cut spending on FEMA in the wake of Katrina, on the SEC in the wake of the credit crisis, and on the FDA in the wake of E. coli out breaks.) But there were many times when McCain seemed nervous and unsure of himself, especially when going off-script; on the other hand, Obama seemed comfortable speaking off-the-cuff, an area that's been a weak point for him in the past.

Winner: Obama. But of course I'm biased. What did you think?

Permalink 1 Comment

Posted by Ken in: politics

Comments

Comment #1 from Noelle (Guest)
2008 Sep 29 - 10:42 am : #

I'm sad to say that when ever McCain licked his lips he looked like a pointy tongued lizard. Not that this should matter, I'm just sayin'.

Comments are closed for this post.

Search This Site