Second Presidential Debate 100708

Okay, second presidential debate.

I thought this was supposed to be about the economy, but according to Tom Brokaw, it’s a wide range of questions on domestic and foreign policy.

The debate tonight is town-hall style. First question is “What’s the quickest way to bail Americans out of THEIR financial difficulties?” Obama said Step one: last week’s bailout, and making sure that it’s executed right. Step two: tax breaks for the common people. Step three: health care and help with the oil crunch. McCain said energy independence, tax cuts for the rich and stop the Washington spending spree that he’s been a big part of perpetuating. Finally, he said as president he would order the treasury department to buy up bad home loans and renegotiate them based on the reduced value of the home. So, in other words… send Washington on a spending spree.

Round one to Obama.

Just discovered that one of my heroes among the wealthy, Warren Buffet is an Obama supporter.

Second question is “What in the bail out package will actually help out the average American?” McCain is talking about how he “suspended” his campaign to vote on the first bill. Now he’s talking about good republicans wanting to stop FMNA and FDMC and bad democrats fighting to continue it. Then he reiterated that we needed to buy bad home mortgages. Didn’t answer the question at all, in other words. Obama said that it would help small businesses get the loans that they’ve come to rely on to stay in business.

Round two to Obama.

Third question is “How can we trust either of you with our money when both parties got us into this mess?” Obama pointed out that we had a projected budget surplus before the Bush administration took over. So in other words, “We may be bad, but we’re not as bad as them.” He then said that he plans on cutting more from the federal budget than he increases spending, so it winds up being a net cut. McCain started talking about what a maverick he is. Then saying that the answer is bipartisanship. Which I agree with. Called Obama a liberal. Talked about how much Obama voted on in pork. Then he started babbling about offshore drilling.

Round three is a wash. Neither one of them really answered the question.

Okay, during the follow-up discussion, Obama set a goal for us… energy independence before 2018. Good for him. We like goals.

Fourth question is “Since WWII, we have not been asked to sacrifice for America except for the blood of our troops. What sacrifice will you be willing to make to help us out of this mess?” McCain’s talking about eliminating earmarks and examining the spending of government agencies. Then he started talking about his asinine one year spending freeze. Again, didn’t answer the question. Obama immediately started talking about 9/11. Now he’s talking about energy. I can’t help but wonder if either one of them understood the question. He’s talking about sacrifices that AMERICANS can make, not him.

Round four is a wash.

Fifth question is “What about unfunded liabilities such as social security and medicare?” And Tom Brokaw added “How will you fix these within the next two years?” Obama took the time to respond to McCain’s attacks on his tax plan. Ah, I take that back. He said that his tax cuts and health care fixes will decrease the burden on these programs. McCain talked about what a maverick he is and how it’s going to take bipartisanship and that we should start a commission on medicare.

Round five is a wash. Neither one really answered the question again.

Round six is “What would you do in the next two years to make sure that congress acts as fast on issues like the environment as they did on the economic bail-out?” McCain started talking about the importance of nuclear energy, and, of course, that he’s a maverick. Didn’t address the question at all. Obama followed suit.

Round six is a wash.

Round seven is “Selling health care coverage has become a very valuable commodity. Do you believe that health care should be a commodity?” Obama talked about the burden of health care, and what he would do to help with that. Didn’t answer the question. McCain followed suit.

Another wash.

They both spent some time here talking about how scary government mandates are. I’d just like to remind everyone here of what “Mr. Conservative”, Barry Goldwater said. “Some problems are so big that only a federal government can handle them.”

Round eight is “How will the recent economic threat inhibit our role as peacemakers in the world?” McCain started talking about how America is the greatest country in the world, and that we need to start learning when we can reasonably make a difference. Awfully strange coming from someone who would keep us in Iraq for a hundred years. Obama attacked McCain’s support of Iraq. Good for him, but not the question. Finally, he said that no country facing economic issues can retain it’s position as a peacekeeper. Good for him.

Round eight (barely) to Obama.

Now McCain is babbling about “Victory in Iraq” again, like this is actually something feasible, without actually talking about what it might be.

Round nine is “Should the US support Pakistani sovereignty, or should we root out Al Quaeda there, even if they don’t want us to?” Obama said that we have to root those terrorists out, regardless, and in order to do it we have to withdraw our troops from Iraq so that we have the troops to do it. He also said that we need to increase non-military aid to Pakistan to give them an incentive to cooperate. McCain said that we couldn’t repeat our mistakes of withdrawing from Afghanistan before we stabilized the country like we did in the eighties. Of course, he and the other senators who voted for us to get out of Afghanistan and go into Iraq made exactly that mistake.

Round nine to Obama.

Round ten is “If, despite your best efforts, if Iran attacks Israel, would you act immediately to support Israel or wait for the security council?” McCain said that he would act unilaterally. Obama started off by talking about how important it is to prevent Iran from going nuclear.

Round ten to McCain, because at least he answered the question.

Last question is “What don’t you know and how will you learn it?” Wonderful question. Obama says most of the time he learns what he doesn’t know from his wife. Then he dodged the question, instead talking about how important support has been in his life. McCain said “What I don’t know is what all of us don’t know, and that’s what’s going to happen both here and abroad.”

I give that round to McCain, because he answered half the question.

Let me take a moment to say here how disappointed I was in this debate. Neither candidate really took any time answering the questions, and Tom Brokaw didn’t call them on it.

Debate to Obama, barely. Not because McCain did well, but just because neither of them bothered to answer the questions.

Peace.

Randal