In the Rough - The Blog of Joel McDonald Jr.

Posted to Virginia Beach Progressives:

Last night in my initial blog post summarizing the debate, I mentioned how Obama countered McCain’s edginess with a coolness that aided him in the debate. After thinking about McCain’s behavior a bit more, I’m…

[Continue Reading]

Posted to Virginia Beach Progressives:

Tonight’s presidential debate between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain once again left much to be desired. Neither the first presidential debate or the vice-presidential debate, provided any real moments where a candidate stood out far above their opponent. I suppose this is something that should…

[Continue Reading]

Obama campaign attempts Keating Five attack

This morning, Obama supporters received an e-mail from Barack Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe, introducing an online documentary that is supposed to show how McCain’s connection with the infamous Keating Five saga makes him partly responsible for the financial issues we are currently enduring.

Gilmore and Warner divide over bailout

Earlier, I wrote about how neither Obama nor McCain were taking any chances in making their support, or lack of support, for the $700+ billion bailout bill an election altering issue. With so much uncertainty about the US and world financial markets, they both seemed to walk the centrist line in order to limit possible damage to their campaigns.

Could the financial crisis determine the election?

With the Senate gearing up to take a vote on a revised bailout bill to rescue our ailing financial market, both Senator Obama and Senator McCain seem to be cautious of what they say and the stance they take in relation to one another. For the time being, both Obama and McCain are urging the passage of the $700 Billion bill. This seems contrary to the feud the House of Representatives are having over the failed passed of their bill earlier this week. Neither Obama or McCain seem willing to deviate from “center stage”,

Senators Barack Obama and John McCain had their first debate at the University of Mississippi on Friday, September 26th. I wasn’t able to catch the debate live, or for the next couple of days, due to being involved in other activities. Much has been written about this debate, so I’m not going to go into detail about what was said, but I do want to share what I felt each candidate was trying to convey with the answers they gave to every question, and how they delivered those answers.

	John McCain: Refusing to address Obama directly, McCain delivered all of his answers in hopes of conveying that Obama was inexperienced and lacking judgment, naive, dangerous; and that McCain was the unifier and bipartisan candidate, not Obama.
	Barack Obama: Spending most of the evening trying to clarify what he felt were misstatements made by McCain about his voting record, Obama tried to show that he did have plans that he would enact as President by reviewing the various points of those mans, often referring to parts of those plans that "would have to happen".

The subject of the debate was national security. In truth, there wasn’t a whole lot to differentiate McCain and Obama on the subject. It’s not as though one wants the nation to be more or less secure than the other. Iraq was, of course, a major issue with the same stances laid out during the debate as we’ve been hearing for a while now.

One issue that is on everyone’s mind is that of the $700 Billion bailout package that was being negotiated at the time of the debate. Specifically, each candidate was asked how such an expense would change their plans for their presidency. Neither candidate was willing to give specifics about how the bailout would change their proposed plans.

I don’t think it would be fair for any campaign or supporters to call a winner for this debate. For one, the candidates didn’t really seem to be debating the other on the issues. McCain berated, while Obama clarified. What were offered weren’t winning points, just a hodgepodge of comments on the offense or defense. I wasn’t impressed by the answers from either candidate for most of the debate.

The most sincere part of the debate from John McCain was his description of his relationship with the veterans and his emphases that they knew that he would take care of them. I know this had to strike a chord in the hearts of many within or connected to the military community. It seems as though it was, for McCain, and issue on which there was no question about his commitment. This is not saying that Obama would not take care of the veterans, in fact it was Obama who brought up the subject of improving benefits for veterans, but it could be said that McCain commitment was deeper. After all, he is one of them.

The final question given to the candidates was on the current security of the nation. While McCain answered that he felt that the nation was more secure, had a long way to go, and expressed his satisfaction on the changes in the government after 9/11; Obama was very specific and poignant on the issue. Obama answered that while we had investment billions into securing our airports to make us more secure, the reality is that our borders, our ports, and other crucial areas are still tragically lacking in security. Obama stated that our current reality is that our nation is in less danger from being the target of an enemy missile than we are a terrorist carrying a suitcase of nuclear material. This answer seems to show a greater understanding of the specific threats to our nation than that given by McCain.

Humor is often attempted at Presidential debates. Often, it’s the humor that is remembered by most. McCain made a few attempt at interjecting some humor into his answers. On one occasion he said something to the effect of, "I’m not going to set the presidential visitor’s schedule before I’m elected, I don’t even have a seal yet", in reference to the campaign seal created by the Obama team which was inspired by the presidential seal. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your view, the audience had taken a vow of silence; meaning there was no reaction when humor was attempted.

[X-Posted at VB Progressives]