Assesment of the Debate

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/26/debate.friday/index.html

After much question about whether the debate would even happen, the two candidates finally squared off in an exchange that was supposed to be centered on foreign policy. However, much of the debate proved to be about the great economic crisis that our country is facing. For about half of the debate, the candidates actually looked like they were trying to avoid speaking to one another and had to be prompted several times by the moderator to respond to one another’s remarks. I would venture to say that since they seemed to be butting heads more frequently towards the end, that the next debate might be more confrontational.

Perhaps it was because this was a debate instead of a speech, but it did not seem as though Obama was delivering his words quite as eloquently as normal and McCain seemed to be speaking better than when delivering speeches from papers or a teleprompter. Throughout the debate, McCain seemed to try to highlight his experience by highlighting past events that he has been a part, frequently citing his record, and plainly saying that Obama “didn’t understand.” McCain also did a nice job of establishing an emotional connection with the electorate, especially veterans. However, Obama did do a nice job of proving that he was knowledgeable about foreign policy, although I think actual experience is more important.

Obama seemed to be cordial in that he did point out several times that he agreed with Senator McCain on part of an issue before proceeding in saying how he differed. His main method of attack on McCain was to refer to President Bush and Senator McCain as if they were one person making all of the same decisions. Overall, I think they were both pretty well-spoken and tried really hard to not let the debate get ugly. It seems that from last night’s debate, no one man really stood out more than the other to help undecided voters. It just puts even more pressure on Palin and Biden in their upcoming vice-presidential debate, as well as the remaining presidential debates.