Presidential Debate Number Three
Our long national ordeal is coming to an end with tonight's final Presidential debate. But it is these last debates, between two candidates, one of whom will be the next President, that really matter. This year, the head to head match ups have turned on imagery, which candidate looks like the President we want next - the old, white man with the awkward mannerisms, or the skinny black kid with the funny name. In the first TV debates in 1960, Nixon, the sitting VP, looked greasy and uncomfortable, while JFK, his challenger with the previously non-Presidential Catholicism, looked handsome and poised. Victorious JFK carried that winning debate image into his Presidency and it was well received, only to be tragically ended. In 1968, Nixon wriggled his way into the White House, though he still looked wrong, only to end up resigning in disgrace.
Bob Schieffer will moderate this sit down discussion. McCain is losing and flailing erratically in both tactics and strategy, a point that does not help him appear Presidential. His attacks on Obama over past associations have backfired, but he may still take a direct shot at them tonight. Repeating the same mistakes and hoping for a different result is a sign of mental illness, so McCain proceeds at his peril. When Obama says Ayers did some very terrible things "when I was eight years old", that quite simply shows the stupidity of the McCain attack. The fact Ayers has reformed and redeemed himself and become a productive member of society, seems irrelevent to the evangelical hypocrites McCain is wooing.
Domestic matters and the economy are the subject tonight. McCain, who has admitted to not being big on economics, keeps pulling ad hoc remedies out of a hat, adding to his image as a crap-shooting, flip-flopping maverick. The fact his remedies all bear the brand of Republican trickle down, confirms he would just be four more years of the same.
The previous two debates have answered the rhetorical McCain question of who Barack Obama is. America has seen that he is intelligent, knowledgeable, poised, calm, respectful and forceful when need be, just what we need in our President. Put side by side with McCain, the contrast has been stark and quite advantageous to Obama.
The backgrounds, biographies and personalities of these two men are quite different. By now, most attentive voters know the back stories of these two men. But I just learned something new about the McCain legacy two days ago. His paternal line of Admirals came out of a Mississippi slave plantation, with 2000 acres and 52 slaves on the last slave census. His grandfather was born on the plantation, which remained in the family until 1952. While his father was in the Navy during WWII, John McCain lived on the plantation. Senator McCain wrote in a memoir that his family never owned slaves. When questioned about this in the 2000 campaign, McCain said he was not aware of the slave ownership and had never really thought about it. To me a slave history researcher, this lack of interest is a window into McCain's soul, perhaps related to his "that one" comment in the last debate.
John McCain's political career has been all about John McCain. His tactics and strategy have always been to do what is best for McCain. He is the kind of sailor who just goes where the wind blows, hoping that somehow it will take him to the White House. He likes the high life he was born to and into which he married up, the second time. Belief in conservative trickle down benefits to those higher up and conservative social prejudices come natural to him, though some of his prejudices are not strong enough for social arch conservatives. If he loses this election, he will probably just stay in the Senate and act up for the fun of it. If he wins, he is very likely to crash us on a rocky shore.
Barack Obama's political career has been about all Americans. His very soul and being are rooted in inclusiveness. He understands inherently we are all in this together and that trickle down is unfair, unjust and unsuccessful. He knows his strengths and weaknesses, when to decide himself and when to seek advice. His tactics and strategy are all about making America the fair and just country it was founded to be and the shining example of those values for the rest of the world. Obama is a pragmatic idealist. He has faith in the judgment of the American people in this election, and believes they will elect the President they deserve. If he loses this election, he will probably not run again. He will likely stay in the Senate and rise in the leadership. He also would make an excellent Supreme Court Justice. If Obama is elected President, America will have the best opportunity we are likely to have in our lifetimes to progress toward realizing fairness and justice for all, here at home and throughout the world.
posted by Tom Blake | 9:05 AM
4 Comments:
On this last debate, McCain had to punch enough to appease his base and also try to score with undecided voters. Obama just had to hold his own and keep his momentum. McCain did some of what he had to do, and Obama did enough for his purpose. The net result is another win for Obama, completing the sweep.
The format of being seated together at a table did encourage more interplay and McCain actually looked at Obama a few times and addressed him personally, although awkwardly. While Obama comfortably addressed McCain sometimes as "John" and others as "Senator McCain", McCain never addressed Obama as "Barack", mostly referred to him as "Senator Obama" and often just talked to him as "you" without appellation. The McCain non-cordial anger level came across in unpleasant contrast to the respectful cordiality of Obama, who sometimes expressed agreement with McCain and then explained further where their agreement ended and how they differed from that point on. McCain did not once agree with anything Obama said. It should be obvious which man actually has the best temperament and skill at working with those of different opinions.
Because of conservative conditioning of the minds of the public to see our government and the taxes on which it operates as inherently evil [see George Lakoff's latest book on the subject, "The Political Mind"], McCain had an easier time with the first general questions on the economy, which he answered by complaining about how the government has grown in size and how we should not be raising taxes on anyone, which he claimed is what Obama will do. The "Tax and spend" attack.
Obama faced the challenge of trying to explain how his tax policy would return us to the fairness of taxing the very wealthy more than the middle class, while McCain sniped that this was class warfare and that Obama would in fact raise taxes on the middle class too. McCain's misrepresentations of the Obama tax policy take advantage of the conservative brainwashing about our evil government. Obama's idea of trickle up economics is explained succintly in a new book, "Obamanomics".
McCain continually used Joe the plumber from Ohio as a focal point, a man who has worked years for a small plumbing business he now wants to buy and who is concerned that his hard work in building his business will mean he ends up having to pay more taxes under Obama. I doubt this Joe resonates with many Americans, and those entrepreneurial types to whom the story appeals are probably already inclined to vote Republican. Nevertheless, McCain mentioned Joe over 20 times and Obama responded with his name 4 times. Years back, unionized plumbers were the butt of jokes based on how high their charges were and how much money they make [part of the Conservative anti-labor attack]; now McCain casts Joe as the conservative hero "small business owner" and we are supposed to all identify with him. I would have liked to see Obama challenge McCain to say how much he believes Joe should be able to net out of his business before he pays one penny more in taxes to help America do its job. Obama says $250,000. What would McCain say - half a million, two million, or the five million he said at Saddleback?
Neither candidate does a good job of explaining how he is going to be able to do the good things he says he is going to do, while still saving money for the taxpayers, especially in a time of government bailouts. McCain says he will freeze all spending except essential, then every time something appealing comes up he seems to be saying that is essential. He wants to take a "hatchet" to the budget and does not express concern about accidentally chopping out something essential or worthwhile. Obama says he wants to go through the budget line by line and use a "scalpel" to remove what is not working, while increasing funding for what does work. The McCain approach is like the proverbial "free lunch". Obama is more realistic and therefore has a harder sell.
McCain's most quoted line was a set retort to the Obama claim that McCain would be four more years of Bush. McCain said that if Obama wanted to run against Bush he should have done it four years ago. I would have liked to see Obama come back by saying that if McCain is agreeing with the vast majority of the American people that Bush has done a terrible job, and if he is bragging about standing up to his party, then McCain should have run against Bush four years ago. But the comeback Obama used was good. He apologized for confusing McCain with Bush, but said the fundamental economic philosophies of McCain and Bush are indistinguishable, a point which McCain cannot counter, since it is true.
McCain again challenged Obama for not standing up to his own party. I think Obama should answer this one by saying there is not much need to stand up to a party which has been right on most of the issues most of the time. This time Obama gave several examples of how he had voted contrary to other Democrats in the Senate. Some of the examples he gave did not appeal to me, but my views are quite progressive and Obama is actually more centrist than me. I could see how his answer could appeal to some undecided and swing voters in the middle.
A question on whose VP choice was best had obvious answers, since Biden wins hands down. Obama declined an opportunity to slam Palin, while McCain made an unappealing attack on Biden on being wrong whenever he disagreed with McCain.
A question on judicial appointments, Roe and abortions was interesting, because Obama volunteered more information on his attitude toward abortion, while McCain exhibited a misogynic streak. The fact that Obama chose to offer more information on his attitude and the way he explained it was quite convincing. He said nobody is pro-abortion and explained the Constitutional right to privacy is fundamental and that abortion is a private matter between a woman, her family, her doctor and her spiritual counselors. He went on to talk about how we should teach our children that sex should be part of a loving relationship and not a cavalier romp. McCain showed disdain and anger as he spoke of "pro-abortion" women who have grossly stretched the matter of "to protect the health of the woman" [McCain snidely put this phrase in air quotes].
A midway discussion of the tone of the campaign and the attack ads reinforced the image of McCain as the villain and gave Obama the chance to explain away the Ayers connection, which he did quite effectively. McCain's renewal of his claim that somehow the ten town hall meetings he had proposed would have resulted in a more uplifting campaign could not have produced agreement from anyone. Suffering through ten of these forums where McCain snarled and Obama professed would be too much to ask of anyone, including Presidential campaign addicts like me.
Obama was at his best toward the end, on the discussions of energy policy and education. He has a vision for where America needs to go in these areas, and that vision seems to be well understood and accepted by most Americans. McCain rushes through a litany of alternate energy technologies but it is clear his energy policy is just "drill baby drill" and "more wars for oil". On education, McCain touts the competitive value of school vouchers, either unconcerned or intending to undermine the public school system. Obama stands by the proven record of the locally run public school system, while agreeing with the need for constant improvement, such as by charter schools, teacher recruitment, training, mentoring and removal when necessary. Obama scores top points when he stresses the need for parental responsibility, including turning off the TV and video games.
Obama continues to look more Presidential, likable, sensible, clear headed and well spoken. McCain looks angry and disagreeable. Conservative David Brooks spoke for most Americans when he said he did not see how people could go through four years of having to look at an ornery President McCain.
Last night Jan and I went to dinner and a play with another couple. We ate in a sports bar, but many of the TV's were tuned to the debate. Our woman friend asked to be seated on the outdoor patio. I was quite relieved because there were no TV's out there. Her husband asked the waiter if he could connect the outside speakers to the debate on TV. My heart sank. The waiter did that but my friend's hearing was so bad he couldn't make out what was being said so he asked the waiter to turn the sound off because he found the noise distracting. Yes!
So my only exposure to the debate was an occasional glimpse of the video on a large screen inside the restaurant. Only seeing them and not hearing them gives one a different exposure. Tom, you mentioned that JFK trounced Nixon in the 1960's debate. But that was only true of those who watched the debate. Those who listened to the debate on radio thought Nixon had won.
So I had the opposite opportunity last night. I watched but did not listen. McCain looked like one of the swaggering leaders I encounter daily at the retirment community I manage. I know I would enjoy talking to him, and I would encourage him to push his ideas on the whole community. I respect him for meaning well, and he could probably do a lot of good if, as in a retirement community, the stakes are not high.
There is no question that the soundless Obama looked like a leader and the soundless McCain looked like a gadfly.
John from Phoenix
I saw a poll today on one of the networks that showed Obama has increased his lead, that showed Palin has hurt the McCain candidacy, and that more people are worried about McCain's age than about Obama's skin color. The poll seems to be too good to be true. Is it possible that the American electorate is being rational?
John from Phoenix
I hope so, and I hope they show up and vote and that the Republican vote suppression machinery does not steal it away.
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