Political blog #2: The "Great" Debate

To sum up Friday’s debate I may use words like, “predictable” or, “boring”. Now that’s not to say I did not find the debate entertaining, it just really didn’t move me. It was exactly as I had expected, with each candidate talking themselves up, a lot of, “remember when I voted for this great thing?” ensued. Interesting points were brought up, for me in particular, the fiscal crisis, however the answers were all ones that I expected, cut extraneous spending etc. I think a portion of answers given just “placated” the lead questions. So when I was asked who I thought won the debate I didn’t even think that could be a question. It may seem stupid but I didn’t think one could “win” this type of debate simply because there are so many different viewpoints and people to discredit any given opinion.

So there’s no set winner right? There can’t be, in my opinion. Maybe not until one of them wins the actual position of president. However if forced to choose who I believe won, I would go with Obama. The blog I am following, Wonkette, like me, does not outright say they believe Obama won, however it’s obvious they think so if you read their live blogging of the debate. First off, issues aside, Barack’s demeanor was much calmer and confident than McCain’s. Obama came across as someone who is intelligent and sensible, as well as earnest to try and solve this country’s problems. McCain kind of came off as an old fart, and was certainly more aggressive, which is pretty off-putting. He seemed to speak more freely without thinking and brought up a lot really cliché things like, “I love the veterans so much” and the thing about the soldier’s bracelet, I bet he didn’t expect Barrack to have one too though. Oh and he couldn’t forget to talk about his experiences in Vietnam a thousand times. I just wondered if any of that was necessary, Obama got by without any of that sort of thing. He also picked on Obama a lot, there was quite a bit of talking over each other. Wonkette brings up the part of the debate when McCain accused Obama of being wrong about the surge. Barrack publicly admitted that the surge had succeeded beyond his “wildest dreams”, as Fox news reports. So there McCain.

Admittedly throughout this presidential race I haven’t really been into either candidate. I have been leaning to the side of Obama however, ever since the running mate selection. I know his slogan about change is kind of cliché too, and I don’t expect much from it if he becomes president but one thing during the debate made me more eager to see him run the war rather than McCain. Obama talked about Afghanistan , and how we need to refocus there. I believe this to be a valid move that should have been done already, after all, that is kind of where all this started. McCain didn’t really have anything of interest to say on the topic though. I foresee McCain running the war the same as Bush has been.

So what has the press been saying? There are a lot of mixed reviews, which isn’t surprising in the least. However there does seem to be a bit of an Obama lead in the headlines. A lot of online polls are saying Obama won. Of course liberal bias news outlets say it went to Obama, conservative bias news outlets say it went to McCain. Again, predictable, however it is funny to note though, that the somewhat conservative Washington Post Political blog “The Fix”, that doesn’t say that McCain won but alludes to the fact, admits that McCain seemed somewhat, “frantic”. I would agree. I would also once again, if forced, have to give this one to Obama. He at least more composed than McCain and had a couple more valid points as well. What do you think?

Newell. "Live Blogging part IV." Wonkette. 29 Sept. 2008 http://wonkette.com/

America's Election HQ. "Obama: Surge Succeeded Beyond 'Wildest Dreams.'" Fox
News. 1 Oct. 2008 http://foxnews.com/.