Friday, September 26, 2008

The debate

After seeing the debate tonight it sure looked like McCain was not the person I'd want in the oval office. His positions still favor big business which is understandable considering all of his advisors are former lobbyists. We've seen how that's worked. He sounded at one point to sound just like George Bush in terms of not wanting to use diplomacy or even talk to other nations. He kept referring to times twenty or thirty years ago when he did this or that but it hit me that times have changed and since the policies of the Bush admin have failed so miserably this is no time to keep going with the same. Try as he might to distance himself from Bush, McCain's positions look exactly like more of the same. Hasn't anyone learned that trickle down economics doesn't work. McCain said that corporations pay the highest taxes in the world. The only problem with that statement as Obama pointed out was that there are loopholes and corporations pay far less by shipping jobs overseas and 60% don't pay any taxes.

It looked to me like Obama had a plan for getting the country back on track while McCain had a mere reaction to the events. McCains approach seems to be more crisis management. His position of "let's put more money into defense" is worrisome in that this is exactly what Dwight Eisenhour warned against - the military industrial complex. Let's see, we had a bunch of oilmen in the white house and what happened to our energy prices? Now we have a military man and not a very good one at that wanting the job of president. Imagine the countries he would bomb on a whim or how much more of our tax dollars get spent on bombs and bullets. Don't talk, bomb first and ask questions later.
McCain didn't seem to have any real plans for todays problems as he did attacks on Obama. When you're on the defensive then you're the looser and if you can't get your plan to the American people you've lost. The Rovian techniques won't work anymore.
Obama looked far more presidential in his responses and his understanding that our world image is important if we expect to work with other nations to solve problems.

Now when is that Palin / Bidin debate? I'll buy popcorn for that one.

3 comments:

Distributorcap said...

it was an odd debate. mccain didnt come off as bad as i thought he would, and obama - well i guess i expected too much

but obama held his own and had ideas. mccain looked old and decrepit - and sounded that way. the comparison was stark

we all know the 800 lb gorilla is preventing this from being a blow out

and i dont think if hillary was there it would have been any different

Dawn Fortune said...

I watched for a while, but then the little dog that runs my life crawled up and took a nap on my chest and I fell asleep. I saw enough to agree with your assessment, though. McCain was condescending as hell and seemed resolute in his devotion to cold war strategies, tactics and policies. I am surprised I did not hear him use the word "containment" or the phrase "domino effect" when discussing the jihadists. It would have fit perfectly with what he was saying.
Obama looked sharp and serious and a little frustrated at some of McSame's low-blow attempts. McSame seemed to be trying too hard to look at ease. Obama was not in his element (debates are not his best event), but he was comfortable in his own skin and McCain wasn't, and I think that made the difference in how they carried themselves.

Roger Owen Green said...

Sarah & Joe show on Thursday, but you knew that, didn't you?

I've been listening to James Howard Kunstler and others. Of course we Americans have too much, myself included. At least I live on the bus line...