200 Words on the Debate

Views from McCain:

McCain had covered certain subjects such as: taxes and gas prices. Some people say McCain came across FOR the people's economy. Obama has talked big but had no factual evidence to support his efforts. He was said to keep our economy in depression and would add to the tax increases on small businesses. Their would be a 15 percent business deficit. We could end up in a depression. Supporters for McCain say Obama never clearly states what changes he wants to make for us and to make matters worse he never backs it up. He gives off the impression that he is more intelligent than others to explain it to them. The people who support McCain believe he is hiding facts from the people, by not sharing his plan for a better economy. He hasn't committed to any changes verbally but has stated he wrote things on the Internet. Though Obama is smooth in his debates, he doesn't address the people’s needs. Supporters also say Obama is wealthy but he avoids the question why he has so much money, people feel like McCain can relate to the people more, and has 30 years of experience. Experience had a major part to do with the 50 - 50 votes. (211)

Obama VS McCain

According to the New York critic, the winner of the Great Debate was clearly Barack Obama. As stated in the Opinions section of the New York Times, Barack Obama was overwhelmingly superior in comparison to John McCain. It was evident that he had the knowledge, wisdom, and ability to lead America as the president. When on the topic of the current financial crisis, and the Iraq war, McCain was left with nothing to say, other than the accusations of Obama's inexperience.
Barack Obama was the stole the debate with his nonverbal communication. He was poised, and charismatic. When answering the topics of the debate, he showed confidence and emotion. Whereas John McCain was "more comfortable talking about the height of South Koreans than he was talking about the health of the U.S. economy". According to USNews, McCain spent so much time talking about foriegn policy and the bailout debate, that he didn't prepare anything for his own country's economic problems. The only thing McCain knew to talk about was the domestic policy of SPENDING, a topic that is far less important than economic growth, job opportunities, and the energy crisis. In McCain's lack of preparation, it was clear to see that Obama was the winner of the debate.

What Debate?

After 1 hour, 36 minutes and 43 seconds of nothing but the Obama/McCain Debate, I can honestly ask: What debate? The entire thing felt like more of an interview; a long and tedious interview. Neither candidate tore at each others throats, and I don't know about the rest of you but I was hoping for bloodshed. Sure some punches were thrown, but nothing exciting. Perhaps both Obama and McCain are saving themselves for the next debate. In my opinion this so called debate was not the "deal breaker" people had been expecting, because by the end of the night no one switched sides and the people straddling the fence stayed there.
The first half of the debate was dedicated to the topic of the economy where each stated their beliefs. McCain wants to limit the spending in Washington, D.C and stick to the fundamentals. Where as Obama wants to take more action and rather than just limiting the spending he wants to directly help those on "Main St." who were struggling far before the economic crisis began. The next half of the debate was full of talk on the happenings in Irag and what should be done. For the most part McCain went on and on about Obama's lack of experience and how he "just doesn't understand". After reading a couple of articles it is easy to see that the clear winner of this debate was Obama; although one article adamantly stated that there was no winner at all. During the time spent on the topic of Iraq McCain would often be left to simply reiterate what he had just said; only using different words. He appeared to be stumped by some of the statements made by Obama and had nothing to say in return. Hopefully McCain will be better prepared to face off with Obama by the time the next debate rolls around.

HEY MISTAH CUMMINS!

Read my post and THEN tell me that I'll only get half credit.

NOONE TOLD ME ABOUT THIS ASSIGNMENT! WTF?! WTF?! GOSH! WTF!?

First thing's first. That was not really a debate. It was more like an interview between three people. Two of whom don't like each other. Nevertheless, I find that dubbing a winner after this debate to be near impossible. Let alone personal bias, both sides had fairly good points.
The first segment, being about the economy, the candidates went at each others' shins. Both candidates agreed that we were in a crappy state of economy right now, and the entire "debate" (I refuse to acknowledge it as a true debate) was just old facts being reiterated. McCain, however made a blunder in accepting the $700 million wallstreet bailout in addition to freeze spending, which would halt government spendings in infrastructure, education, and other needed programs in order to pay for the bailout. He also proposed the implementation of nuclear power in America. Saying that it will cut our power dependency and create jobs for 700,000 people over the next... TWENTY YEARS? I'm sorry, but we can't wait twenty years.
The next segment that was "debated" upon was the war. McCain criticized Obama for not supporting the surge, only to be countered by Obama's scalding remark, that the war did "not start with the surge..." that the war was mismanaged from the start, that they failed to see possible religous clashes; smashing reality down on McCain's FACE.
Both sides traded blows with one another, and its hard, if not impossible to say which side won. Disregarding McCain's seriously lacking speech skills, Obama did not have many go's on McCain. People who liked McCain before the debate will like McCain now and people who liked Obama will still like Obama. For the undecided, this debate should not have been enough to change minds. The first "debate" was a quick test of the candidates' measure of sources and information, the upcoming ones will be the influential ones.

The Debate ( which i was having trouble posting )

The first presidential debate occurred on Friday night. The first article I read was by the AP associated press. In this article it explained how there wasn’t a clear winner. I also believe that this statement is true, because the both candidates were good in there own way, but again I think Obama had done a better job than McCain. After the debate, there were many T.V. commentators who took the side of one candidate, and showed the flaws of the other ones. The first debate was supposed to be mainly about foreign policy, “concerned the economy for about 40 minutes.” In this article it also states that CBS had a roomful of uncommitted voters, and after the debate, its said that many people believed Obama had won, “the number of people who raised their hands for Obama was more than double than those for McCain.”

The second article was an interesting article by Time. It graded both Obama and McCain after the debate. It graded them on their substance, style, offence defense, and overall. It’s said that at first McCain’s arguments were hard to follow, and it didn’t show in this debate that he knows the world more than Obama. (as he had once stated)McCain received a B- for his overall grade and I believe that’s a fair enough grade for him. He clearly didn’t have enough practice or confidence as Obama did, who received an A- for his overall debate. McCain at times didn’t deliver his message clearly, but towards the end of the debate he did find his “voice”. On the other hand, Obama looked confident in what he was saying. Overall this debate went well, and in my opinion, Obama won this debate.

Links to the articles:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080927/ap_en_tv/tv_debate_night

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/gradingthefirstpresidentialdebate

HEY

Thanks for the help! It works now =]

I read a few articles regarding the debate between McCain and Obama last Friday. Some of them said Obama clearly won, some say no one won, and others say nothing of winning. According to FOXnews.com, the one thing that is very important to Obama is the economy. For the first half hour of the debate he talked about economic issues and spoke strongly of it. Obama said the economic crisis is the "final verdict on eight years of failed economic policies promoted by George Bush, supported by Sen. McCain."
McCain was not so strong when he spoke of economic issues, The economy was not his focus point. McCain said that he had "better things to worry about". McCain talked frequently about the war in Iraq. Accoring to CNN.com, McCain "slammed Obama for not supporting the surge, an increase of about 30,000 troops to Iraq in early 2007. Bush sent the additional troops as part of a campaign to pacify Baghdad and its surrounding provinces."
In my opinion, I think the election could go either way. Both candidates have positives and negativies about them. Obama is more for the economy. Articles pointed out that Obama was confident when speaking to the camera. McCain is more focused on the war and seems more ready for the job as president. He said would not need "on-the-job training" like Obama would, according to FOXNews.com McCain may lose voters of the middle class because of his lack of economic discussions, however Obama could lose because citizens are tired of this war in Iraq. I believe it could go either way.

Debate Assignment

"Analysis: Focus on economy may hurt McCain, give advantage to Obama"
Accoding to this article posted on mercurynews.com, neither McCain nor Obama was the proven winner in the debate on Friday. In the upcoming presidential debates, strategiest believe that it will determine the election to either fall in favor for McCain or Obama. The article states that Obama has been more favorable in the election than McCain. McCain's party is well aware of Obama's lead but does not fear. They took example of going back to 2007, not to be paniced about the polls. McCain's fear is that the undecieded voters will vote for Obama in the upcoming election. But in all, it is believed that Obama has insured the undecieded voters with his clear answers and powerful voice. I also agree with this article that there is no confirmed winner in the debate. There was too little time with too many things to say and state in the debate. We need more debates like this to hear what the presidential nominee's will do to our country when they take office.
"McCain vs. Obama: Dueling temperaments, no defining moment in first debate"
This article is basically the same thing as the first one. It states that there is no apparent winner in the debate but many things has been cleared off. In the 96 minutes McCain and Obama debated, many things were discussed such as the economy and foreign policy issues. In the little time there is until the elections, both canidates may have not changed the mind or presuaded the undecided voters. I agree that we should wait until further debates to pick our decisions because it will greatly change the state.

The articles I read are "Analysis: A few jabs, but no knockout in first debate" from CNN.com, and "Presidential debate too close to call" from theage.com.

Both articles believes that the first presidential debate was a tie and the three remaining debates will be very important. McCain was the favorite to win the debate because he knew more about foreign policies and national security. However, viewers saw that Obama did not fold to McCain during this part of the debate. Then Obama was more confident when they discussed the economy. McCain stated that he has more experience concerning situation like Iraq. After the debate, many polls were taken to see who America believe won the debate. CNN reported that 51% of the viewers thought Obama won, and 38% of the viewers thought McCain won. However, more democrats watched the debate, so they conclude that the debate was a tie. Another poll showed that 46% of men thought McCain won and 43% thought Obama won. 59% of women thought Obama won and 31% thought McCain won. McCain claims Obama is too inexperienced and Obama claims McCain is just like Bush. Though it was intense, this was a civil debate.

In my opinion, I think Obama won this first debate. McCain did not say anything unexpected. He was expected to win the debate about foreign policies and national security. Obama, however, was really educated when they talked about foreign policies. No one thought Obama could stand a chance in that topic, but he did. The articles says that Obama seemed to be more confident throughout the debate. Republicans are saying that McCain was tired from traveling to DC, but that is no excuse since a president will have to travel a lot. To sum that up, I think Obama won because he was more confident.

CNN article
theage article

debate

Obama and McCain Debate:

Oxford, Miss. – Against the backdrop of what could be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama presented starkly different visions of how they would lead the nation during Friday night’s high-stakes debate.

In what was perhaps one of the most substantive encounters in recent history, the two candidates clashed on everything from tax policy to the war in Iraq to how they’d handle the growing threat from Iran.

Senator McCain repeatedly tried to paint Senator Obama as naive and untested, while Obama regularly sought to tie McCain to what he called the “failed policies” of the Bush administration.

Both countered the attacks with a sense of command and control. Obama called for a new approach to foreign and economic policies, calling the current economic crisis “the final verdict on eight years of failed economic policies promoted by George Bush and supported by John McCain.”

As he touted his credentials as a pork-barrel-cutting maverick, McCain regularly quipped “you don’t understand” to Obama. “It’s well known I have not been elected Miss Congeniality in the United States Senate nor with the administration,” he noted twice.

“It was one of the more competent debates we’ve seen in a long time. There were no major gaffes. It was data-driven, and both spoke clearly to their constituencies, as they should have,” says Allan Louden, a debate expert at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. “I would rate it as a draw, but if it’s a draw, the draw goes to the challenger and that would be Obama.”

Several instant polls during the debate gave the overall advantage to Obama on handling the economy and Iraq. By a margin of 51 percent to 38 percent, viewers said Obama did the “best job” overall, a CNN poll found. A CBS poll of undecided voters found 40 percent said Obama won, and 22 percent gave the nod to McCain. But such immediate reactions are often short-lived, coming before each campaign begins “spinning” its view of the encounter to the public through the media.

Immediately after the debate, both campaigns sent a battery of high-profile supporters to what’s called “Spin Alley” in the Media Filing Center in Oxford to declare their candidate the clear winner.

“John McCain won this debate by a wide margin. The entire debate was fought on McCain’s ground,” says Charles Black, a top McCain campaign adviser. “The economic segments were largely on federal spending and he was talking about his record of cutting spending. Then you moved into the foreign policy segments, and on every single one of them – Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Russia – McCain was able to show experience, knowledge, judgment, and Obama was on the defensive the whole time.”

Obama’s defenders were just as adamant that the Illinois senator won the debate.

“Obama made the case for change on domestic issues and foreign policy,” says David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign manager. “What John McCain did was basically defend the policies of the last eight years. Again, this was supposed to be John McCain’s debate, his home court advantage – but Barack Obama commanded the foreign policy segments of this debate.”

There were several heated exchanges. The first concerned federal spending and tax policy. McCain said “we have to “get spending under control in Washington,” pointing repeatedly to the $18 billion in so-called earmarks – money for special projects slipped into bills by individual members of Congress.

“He has asked for $932 million of earmark pork-barrel spending,” McCain said of Obama. “That’s nearly a million dollars for every day he’s been in the United States Senate.”

Obama agreed that the “earmark process has been abused” and needs reform. He noted he’s suspended any more requests for his state.

Then he turned the tables on McCain, attacking the Arizona senator’s tax plan for wasting far more than $18 billion a year by “giving $300 billion in tax cuts to some of the wealthiest corporations and individuals in the country.”

“What I’ve called for is a tax cut for 95 percent of working families, 95 percent,” Obama said.

McCain countered that he wanted tax cuts, as well. “I want every family to have a $5,000 refundable tax credit so they can purchase their own healthcare,” he said.

Obama shot back: “Now what he doesn’t tell you is that he intends to, for the first time in history, tax health benefits….”

On foreign policy, two of the more heated exchanges dealt with Russia and Iran.

McCain attacked Obama for saying he’d be willing to sit down with some leaders like Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “without preconditions.” Such an action would “legitimize him,” McCain said. “That’s not just dangerous, that’s naive.”

“Let me get this straight, we sit down with Ahmadinejad and he says, ‘We’re going to wipe Israel off the face of the earth’ and we say, ‘No you’re not?’ ” McCain said.

Obama said that was absurd – that he would of course respond to Ahmadinejad’s “nonsense.” But he reserved the right “as president” to talk to whomever, if he thought it was in the national interest of the United States.

“The idea is that we do not expect to solve every problem before we sit down to talks,” he said, noting that even the Bush administration has now come around to seeing the need for talks with Iran.

McCain also accused Obama of “a little bit of naiveté” in his initial reaction to Russia’s incursion into Georgia this summer, because Obama called for “restraint” on all sides.

Obama called that a mischaracterization and said he’d been ahead of the curve, warning the Bush administration “back in April” about the presence of Russian peacekeeping troops in Georgia, which “made no sense whatsoever.”

“We have to have foresight and anticipate some of these problems,” Obama said.

During the debate, McCain rarely looked at Obama and never once called him Barack. Obama, by contrast, smiled wryly at some of McCain’s attacks and repeatedly called McCain John. It had the feel of a father-son encounter, some analysts said, with the older man touting his judgment and experience and the younger one calling for change and a different set of priorities to be used in making judgments.

“McCain was primarily past-looking – looking back to the record and his experience. The premise was the past predicts the future,” says Kathryn Olson, a debate expert at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “Obama was more future-looking, focusing on plans: His message was we need fundamental change because the past doesn’t necessarily predict the future.”

2008 First Presidential Debate

According to a critic on Yahoo, Obama was graded higher on all aspects of the debate, meaning that he would be the clear winner. Obama greatly refuted and had great retorts for McCain's attacks. He used the fact that McCain was a big supporter of Pres. George Bush's proposals and agreed with him on 95% of the time. He called McCain out for being an early proponent of the Iraq War, (of which McCain says the victory is near). Barack said McCain wants to increase tax for the wealthy including those of oil companies. He also called for many reforms in such industries as alternative energy, healthcare and education. He wants to reduce the deductible and more aimed his message toward lower and middle class families. McCain said Barack wants to propose $800 billion spending on his new programs. He wonders how Obama can do that when he is going to give a tax cut to 95% of people. McCain says he will fight against federal corruption and veto every government spending bill. He wants to invest in nuclear power, which Obama is opposed to. He says we’re winning the war, but Obama says that we Iraq War costs $10 billion a month when they have the resources to carry on. A major concern during the debate was how both avoided the question “How will the $700 billion spending bill affect [their] agendas.”

The first debate...Obama vs. McCain

According to ABC news "Obama: McCain 'Katrina-Like' on Economy", Obama said, "His first response to the greatest financial meltdown in generations was a Katrina-like response." After the debate was over, both Obama and McCain said that they won the debate. Personally, I think Obama was winning in this debate. Even though the debate's main topic was about national security that McCain to be good at it, but Jim Lehrer was straight forward to talk about the crashing economic. This debate first half was talked about economic and second half was talked about war in Iraq.
However, in CNN news "McCain, Obama fight for title of 'most qualified", the McCain campaign said "there was one man who was presidential tonight; that man was John McCain." In war of Iraq, McCain showed his leadership and experiences, but Obama's word impressed me and I think Obama can be a good President because of this sentence, "At the time when the war started, you said it was quick and easy. You said we knew where the weapons of mass destruction were. You were wrong. You said that we were going to be greeted as liberators. You were wrong." This emphatic sentence impressed me and I believe Obama will finally win this election.

So pretty much nobody won =/

"orgy of spending," said Barack Obama haha. funny man. anyways, both of the articles i read stated that neither john mccain or barack obama won the debate. i have to agree with them too because there were some times i was like 'oh damn mccain' and others when i was like 'go barock!' both men brought it at certain points during their time frame. especially when the other man said something about them that they felt was wrong. both felt the need to get defensive and clear up all the nonsense the other man was spitting.
i feel the beginning of the debate was the most important part of the debate because they spoke of foreign policy and the economy and the middle class. well actually barack spoke of the middle class mccain didnt. a whole bunch of high numbers were being thrown out reguarding taxes and spending and i wasnt sure who or what to believe. the war talk was pretty intense too because it seemed like mccain knew a lot about it and what he was talking about. i like how barack is for nuclear defense stuff. he talked about korea and how we put too much money into air port security but need to put it into nuclear defense because we never know what could happen.
an observation i made was that mccain was pretty "cool and collected" as said in the san jose mercury news while barack at times was "shaken and stuttering". mccain had his little smirk going on which made me upset because the times he smirked was when barack was speaking which i found rude. he also didnt look at him "as if he wasnt even there". it felt to me that john was looking a little down on barack a bit because he was younger but im not too sure. i also agreed with the san jose mercury news article that johns tie had a weird look on tv with the stripes and whatnot. baracks solid tie was much better although he wouldve looked spiffy in a yellow tie.
the san fransisco chronicle stated that when uncommited voters were asked who won the debate more hands shot up for barack than mccain.

san jose mercury news
san francisco chronicle

First Presidential Debate

According to The Associated Press there was no clear winner in the first presidential debate on September 26. Both candidates had their strong points, but neither one came out on top. McCain implied that Obama was not experienced enough to become our nation’s next leader. Obama mentioned McCain’s support of the unpopular Bush administration, which Obama believes is the reason behind the country’s current economic crisis. Some surveys say the voters favored Obama when it came to matters involving the economy. These surveys also said that voters favored McCain on issues of foreign policy. The candidates had differences of opinion and “clashed over spending, taxes, energy and war.”
According to TIME, Obama was the clear winner in the debate. TIME graded the candidates in five categories: substance, style, offense, defense, and overall. McCain was “evocative, intense, and at times emotional, but also vague, elliptical, and atonal.” He ended up with a final overall grade of a B-. Obama “did not seem nervous, tentative, or intimidated by the event.” He managed to grasp an overall final grade of an A-.
Even though both candidates were pretty equal, I believe overall Obama had a slight lead. His responses and arguments seem to be more supported and thought out. His poise and eloquence gave him the appearance of being confident and passionate about what he was saying.

No Apparent Winner in Sight

During the presidential debate on September 26th, John McCain and Barack Obama came out with very different tactics, and so, there was no clear winner. Therefore, it also did not cause very many people to change sides. During the first half hour, Senator Obama was the strongest, and he stressed that economic issues are the most important to solve at the moment. He also attempted to use McCain’s links to President Bush as a weapon. In opposition, McCain argued that Obama does not have enough experience to become President just yet, and stated, “I'm afraid Sen. Obama doesn't understand the difference between a tactic and a strategy.” Conversely, McCain was strongest in the last hour of the debate since he is knowledgeable with foreign policy. By reminding the audience of his overseas experience, he makes it clear that he is knowledgeable.

The debate started with a question concerning the economic crisis, even though it was supposed to be centered on foreign policy. While both agreed on the fact that that actions must be taken soon in order to prevent more Americans from losing their jobs and homes, they disagreed on the topics of spending, taxes, energy and war. By the end of the debate, both campaigns proclaimed victory. After watching the last hour of the debate and reading the articles online, I still do not see a clear winner. Instead, I agree with reviewers that both candidates showed their strengths in different fields, and, hopefully, the upcoming debates will provide us with a better understanding of their views.

Sources:

The Associated Press
CNN

Obama Vs. McCain

According to CNN's "Dissecting the debate", There was a poll on who won the debate. 51% of the poll voters say Obama took the win, and 38% say that McCain took the win. But neither of them both defended their party as well as they could be. McCain talking about how "Obama is not experienced", Obama talking about how "McCain forgot about the middle class". I felt that neither candidate was clear in their answers to the questions asked. On the first question, referring to the bail-out plan; neither senator answered the question. All they had to say was, "Yes, I will support it, no, there is nothing I will change," or visa versa.

The 2nd Article I read was on CBSNEWS, "Forty-six percent of uncommitted voters said their opinion of Obama got better tonight. Thirty-two percent said their opinion of McCain got better." Also, "Sixty-six percent of uncommitted voters think Obama would make the right decisions about the economy. Forty-two percent think McCain would. Forty-eight percent of these voters think Obama would make the right decisions about Iraq. Fifty-six percent think McCain would." People are still very undecided on who to vote for, There will still be 2 more debates, hopefully this will make peoples idea on who to vote for more clear.

Debate

The first article I read was "Analysis: A few jabs, but no knockout in first debate" on cnn.com. Apparently, McCain was supposed to have the advantage because the debate was focused on foreign policy and national security. However, the first part of the debate was based on the economy. Both candidates stuck with their viewpoints, but it seems that voters would rather have Obama when it comes to the economy. In terms of foreign policy, voters seem to prefer McCain over Obama. McCain also pointed out that he has more experience in foreign policy than Obama several times. Republicans claimed that voters will vote for a commander in chief with experience on election day.
The second article I read was "Candidates clash on Economy and Iraq" from the NY Times. In the first part of the debate, both candidates refused to specify any changes they would make for the economy, such as tax reductions or spending programs. When it came to foreign policy, McCain was intent in showing that Obama was inexperienced, but Obama seemed calm and in control. He also seemed to have his own foreign policy and talked a lot about foreign countries and their leaders. "The debate served as a reminder of just how different these two men would be as president as they appeared for their first extended session together before a huge audience."

Master Debating Without a Climax

The debate on Friday, September 26th, allowed both candidates to show off their competence in their respective fields. Although the debate was originally on the topic of foreign policy (McCain's forte), the well timed financial crisis allowed Obama to sneak in half an hour of his strength: the economy. McCain, possibly realizing the potential danger, almost did not appear at the debate. It wasn't until early Friday that he decided to show up after all. Most news sources, including Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and even Yahoo News, agree that the debate ended in a tie, with no side winning any ground over the other. Basically, a whole lot of talking happened, and nothing important was said.
In the first half hour, Obama was leading the infantry and allowing McCain's blood pressure to boil dangerously. With a hardly contained passive aggressive stance, McCain allowed Obama to plow over him with phrases like "middle class" and "economic growth". Obama obviously knew what he was doing and McCain was falling short. Sensing his victory, Obama even threw in a couple attacks at McCain by connecting him to the decisions of the Bush Administration that everybody knows is evil. According to CNN, the polls show that the country believe that Obama is the best choice for economic policy.
However, when the second half of the hour arrived, the great behemoth of foreign policy was allowed to roar. McCain fired repeatedly on Obama's lack of experience and repeatedly used the phrase "Senator Obama doesn't understand..." to lead his attacks. To retaliate, Obama hardened his glare and tone and said "I absolutely understand..." but fails to impress. McCain spent a great deal dropping names like "General Petraeus" and waving them in Obama's face. Tired of his showboating, Obama fired back with his greatest prepared comeback in his arsenal to quiet the foreign policy monster: using McCain's first name. "John, you like to pretend the war started in 2007...The war started in 2003..."
Yet, despite his great skill in petty arguments, Obama lost that half of the debate. CNN reports that voters feel more confidence in McCain for foreign affairs. In the end, after a whole hour of interupting each other with "That is not true" and battling for superiority, the debate ended in a tie. The greatest summary for the debate, I believe, is said by Susan Estrich from Fox News: "If you were for Obama going in, you still are; if you were for McCain going in, you still are. And if you were undecided Friday afternoon, you probably still are today." No one won, no one lost, and nothing interesting happened.

Arnold Chow

Fox News
CNN Analysis
CNN Summary

First Presidential Debate

According to CBS news, Obama was the clear winner of last night’s presidential debate. He left Mississippi University last night feeling good, “not because of what he did as much as because what he thinks McCain did not do” (Gavrilovic).
“The truth is, through ninety minutes of debating, John McCain had a lot to say about me, but he had nothing to say about you. He didn’t even say the words 'middle class,'” Obama said at a rally.
Meanwhile, Senator John McCain, who did not fail to appear at the debate last night, drew from his experience overseas as he tried to portray himself as the more qualified candidate. McCain also accused Senator Obama of not, “[understanding] the difference between tactic and strategy” (CNN). Obama later added, “Bush has dug us into a deep hole. John McCain was carrying the shovel. It’s gonna take time to dig ourselves out.” McCain seemed to know more about the topic of foreign affairs, but Obama was prepared for topics concerning the middle class, such as taxes.
Joe Biden, who introduced Obama at the event, said his running mate won the debate hands down. “They didn't just see a winner last night, they saw the next commander in chief,” Biden said.

Debate

The debate was supposed to be about foreign policy, a strong point for McCain, but it was geared more towards the economy, a topic in which Obama shows more strength. However, this wasn’t a runaway for either candidate. McCain was quite weak answering questions about the economy compared to foreign policy, and Obama forgot major points against McCain. McCain frequently suggested Obama’s inexperience, such as “Senator Obama doesn’t seem to understand…” Neither candidate revealed much about the bailout plan, but they both seemed supportive of it.

After watching part of the debate on television and listening on the radio, I noticed that McCain, an overwhelming majority of the time, starts off his argument with “Like.” He definitely does not have the speaking ability that Obama has. However, McCain often mentioned his experience working in the government and alleging that Obama did not know many things, including the difference between a tactic and strategy. McCain also smirked a lot of the time during Obama’s answer. I did not like any of the candidates in this debate. Neither one really convinced me that he would be able to get us out of this economic turmoil.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/09/26/2008-09-26_john_mccain_barack_obama_debate_economy_.html

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/politics/ny-usnal0927,0,7810376.story

Presidential Debate

According to CNN and NYTimes articles, the first presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain concluded with a tie. The main focuses of the first debate were on economy and foreign policy. The debate started out on financial crisis and how each candidate will do to bring the nation's economic back to normal. Without a doubt, each candidate had his own fundamental point of view that contradicted one another. Obama's high confidence in tax cutting on paychecks so the middle class can have a "fair shake" set him off on a good start. However, when the topic switched to foreign policy and national security, McCain's wisdom on going to the war with Iraq and what to do with Iran had tipped over Obama. He often called Obama as "inexperience" which was not a position to be in during the current difficult time. Nevertheless, Obama, unwillingly to back down, hung in there until the first debate ended had set a score of tie. None of the candidates had a strong enough of a punch to knock down the other candidate. The two topics that were debated on both showed the strengths and weaknesses of both candidates.

the presidential debate 2008 =D

My first article that I read on the presidential debate was on CNNpolitics and they said that neither Obama nor McCain was able to strongly defend their party. The debate focused on the economy, the financial crisis, and foreign policy. The first question started with the financial crisis. Senator Obama made good points on where he stands on the topic. He lists possible plans on how to fix and restore our financial problems. According to CNN, “Obama seemed more comfortable on this topic than McCain, and it showed.” I agree with CNN because the first sentence that McCain said in response to the question was to mention about Kennedy being in the hospital. I thought that was not needed to be said right at the beginning. According to the second article that I read, at zimbio, McCain made it seem like Obama just wanted to win the election, but afterward had no intention on executing the plans that he made to help the United States come back from our bad economy and foreign policy. The polls on CNN say that more people believe that Obama will be able to help the economy and McCain will give very powerful thoughts on what we should do about foreign policy. At the end of the debate, there was no obvious winner, but it definitely stirred up excitement for the next presidential debate.

The DEBATE! (Malika Bridges)

On Friday, September 26, 2008 was the very first debate for the running candidates. It was located at the University of Mississippi in the South part of the United States. Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain were asked a series of questions about how to better or help the United States. Some of the questions were about Alkida, the economic crises, and about the war in Iraq. Both candidates got either two to five minutes to speak on each question. Al thought there was a lot of disagreements on many of the responses, all together is was not a very pleasing event.

In my opinion, the debate was rather on the boring side. It started off rather slow and the questions really did not catch my attention. I felt as if the questions that were being asked, were not what the people wanted to here. I over heard that the interviewer was the person that made up the questions. I think the questions need to be from the people because we are the ones who are voting, so we need more and better information on our candidates. I also think that when the questions were asked the, candidates did not fully answer the question. For example, the interviewer would ask about the war in Iraq, however the candidates would respond to the question but they would not even have the word "war" in the response. Instead of answering the question they would talk about how "America needs health care." Do not get me wrong, I would not mind having free health care for everyone, but i would like them to stick to the topic of the question. But I guess that is what the debates are all about, trying to get all of what you need to say in the debate because they know that a lot of people are watching it.

Over all i think Obama took that presidential debate. He seemed to have answered the questions a lot more better and his comes back were pretty good. I knew that McCain was having a hard time taking Obama come backs because, he always seemed to look down like he was embarrassed or something. However the presidential debates are not going to change who i vote for. I am still voting for change; President Barack Obama, 2009.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/27/us/politics/27debatecnd.html?hp

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/presidentialdebates/3090470/US-presidential-debate-Barack-Obama-and-John-McCain-clash-over-foreign-policy.html

Presidential Debate - 200 words

According to a CNN article and the Huffington Post, during the debate John McCain and Barack Obama went at each other but there was no clear winner in the end. In the beginning of the debate they both discussed the nation's economy and then foreign policy. In the article, it states that Obama was more comfortable on the topic of the nation's economy than McCain. There were polls that showed the people would rather have Obama when it comes to economy and McCain when it comes to terrorism and Iraq. This is because Obama cares about what the people want and don't want. Obama tries to connect with everyone to solve their economic problems. They argued and criticized each other about who said what and who voted for what. Obama made many good points that are better for the people and about higher taxes. McCain made points about spending control is needed for the economy. When it comes to experience and foreign policy, McCain is more comfortable and more knowledgeable. They discussed Iraq and Senator McCain says that "Obama did not support the surge of U.S. troops into the country." Obama states back that "the war in Iraq did not begin last year but in 2003." During the debate McCain was on the attack frequently, which puts Obama in the defensive position. In the end, McCain's main argument is that Obama lacks experience, while Obama tries to tie McCain to the Bush Administration.

Presidential Debate

To begin with, I was pleasantly surprised that McCain showed up. I suppose he realized that he really couldn't do much about the economic situation by skipping the debate. Or he heard the rumors that he was unprepared to face Obama.

I am forced to wonder if McCain has ever read a US history book. In the early 1930s, before Roosevelt came to office with his New Deal policies, our country's leaders tried to let the financial problems sort themselves out. "The economy will fix itself" was their opinion, and "The fundamentals are strong" is McCain's. No-government-intervention failed in history, it will more than likely fail again. I am of the opinion that authoritarianism is the best type of government to handle crises, if there is an able leader. Obviously, the US is not an authoritarian government and will never be as long as the Constitution holds, but the federal government must interfere with our free market system until the problem is fixed.

Both sides had incorrect facts. Obama said that under his policy, 95% of families would recieve tax cuts, when the true number is 80-something% (which is still a goodly amount).

As for foreign policy, I agree with Obama that the Iraq war is unnecesary at the moment. We should focus our efforts at the real problem, Al Quaida(sp?) and Afghanistan, and the Iranian terrorists, rather than Iraq. If I had my way, we wouldn't have declared any war at all. McCain accused Obama of being extremely leftist, but all these years of rightist rule have shown some liberalism is needed.

As a last note, I loved how Obama kept stating "When I am President" as though the election results were already in.

Obama vs. McCain - 200 words

According to the article in CNN, Obama and McCain were debating for the most qualified presidential candidate. Throughout the night, they have been criticizing and making false accusations of each other. “‘Sen. Obama refuses to acknowledge that we are winning in Iraq,’ McCain said. Obama responded, ‘that's not true; that's not true.’ He blasted McCain as having been wrong about the war at the start, saying McCain had failed to anticipate the uprising against U.S. forces and violence between rival religious groups in the country.” During the debate, topics that emerged were government spending, the bailout proposal, future terrorist attacks, relations with Russia, Iran, and Iraq. McCain criticized Obama for not supporting the troops in Iraq but Obama counters by saying that the war started five years ago and McCain claimed that it was going to be quick and easy. McCain tried to portray himself as the more qualified candidate by saying that he’s been overseas many times and has more experience in that area. Although they had their differences, they did agree on some stuff like the country being safer than before and a non-nuclear Iran. Obama also comments on how some of McCain’s are crude and rough. He always links McCain to President Bush’s current ideas and issues making him look bad seeing how the country currently is under Bush.

200 words- article reviews

I read the article on CNN titled “McCain and Obama fight for title of ‘most qualified.’” The article mostly talks about the debate on the U.S. economy, foreign policy, and national security. Obama seems to be more concerned about the economy than McCain. It also seems that Obama has more knowledge on how to solve economic problems. Obama can connect with the middle-class people more in that he relates to them through speaking about the economy. On the contrary, McCain seems to have more intelligence and understanding in foreign matters such as the war in Iraq. He appears to be more experienced in foreign policy issues. The second article I read is titled “Analysis: A few jabs, but no knockout in first debate.” As Obama and McCain discussed about the economy, Obama seemed more comfortable on this topic than McCain. Polling shows that people are more confident in Obama when it comes to the economy. However, Republicans believe that people will vote for a commander in chief with experience. The article reported that "McCain tried to make Obama look inexperienced and unable to hit the ground running on day one if elected president. In turn, Obama sought to link McCain to the Bush administration. "

HEY

I changed my nameeeeeee.

JP > Cummins :D

Howdy!

Do I still have to change my name to Jennifer Phan? I don't want to =( It's ugly. I prefer what it's at now, JP. Okay?! Besides, Cummins, you call me that anyway, right?!

Alright, cool. It's gonna stay at JP. (=

1337

bored stikes again, so much so that i remember to change my name on blogger and i post that i changed it, wow................................

what you asked for

my name has been changed. i even put my last initial to distinguish myself from the other alyssa.

....

is this better? =) byebye

Hi Mr. Cummins

I changed my Name.

politics YUCK

If i was 18 i would vote for Obama, I'm really not into the politics thing i know hella bad right? I would just vote for him because he sounds like he knows what he is doing more that old man jk.

What what? obama?

power to the people. obama ftw.

I love McCain. Hella kinky.

AHHH YEEAHHH, VOTING!!!!!!

I would vote for Obama because he's hella hyphy, yadada yiiiiii
and the fact that he has tax breaks for the middle class
hasn't stated his view on gay marriage so he doesn't loose votes
has a good health care plan
etc...


and he's just hella hyphy

Mccain is an old butt

Vote?

Obama, becuase McCain is hypocrytical, old, and Republican.

emily votes for obama and lillian too =)

OBAMAAAA!

Choose

OBAMA.

VOTE...

I would vote for Obama , but i cant vote so it really doesn't matter...

vote?

obama b/c he has biggggg ears

I think Hussein Obama is a pretty kool guy...

eh is CHANGE and doesnt afraid of anything.

i'd vote for..

Obama.

Who I'd Vote For:

Obama

I would...

Vote for Obama!

I will vote for...

Obama

Obama cause Mccain is hella wrinkled.

I'd vote for Obama !! yee yee

OMG

this is my second time doing this, i would vote for...OBAMA

lillian

WASAHHHHH

iD lOvE tO vOtE fOr oBaMa iF i cOuLd vOtE 2mOrRoW!!


fAshIgIttY.
Peace.

If i will vote for Obama if I allow to..

I will choose Obama!! Because I like the "Change" solgan and I would like to change!!!

if I will vote tomorrow...

I will vote for Obama!

ZX6R

NADER!!!!!!!!!!

?

How does I vote for McCain?

jay kay

mo mo

Obama! Yes WE CAn!

i vote...

I vote for Obama

If I were to vote tomorrow...

I'd vote for Obama :]

ZX6R

GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE....................NATER FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vote

Obama

gyreezy f. baby

I will vote for Mr. Obama.

if i were to vote tomorow...

I would vote for Obama.

I'd vote for

If the vote was tomorrow, I'd vote for Barack Obama. :D

i forgot

to say who i would vote for..im not sure because i dont know enough about either man to make a decision so important to my society =]

hi..

Hi

Whats Good?

if i were to vote tomorrow....

I would vote for Obama.

If the voting was tomorrow i would vote for.....

Obama

i am..

how you say...new to this yes?

Hi

Borgle.

lml(^w^)lml