* Obama said McCain adviser Henry Kissinger backs talks with Iran “without preconditions,” but McCain disputed that. In fact, Kissinger did recently call for “high level” talks with Iran starting at the secretary of state level and said, “I do not believe that we can make conditions.” After the debate the McCain campaign issued a statement quoting Kissinger as saying he didn’t favor presidential talks with Iran.
* Obama denied voting for a bill that called for increased taxes on “people” making as little as $42,000 a year, as McCain accused him of doing. McCain was right, though only for single taxpayers. A married couple would have had to make $83,000 to be affected by the vote, and anyway no such increase is in Obama’s tax plan.
* McCain and Obama contradicted each other on what Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen said about troop withdrawals. Mullen said a time line for withdrawal could be “very dangerous” but was not talking specifically about “Obama’s plan,” as McCain maintained.
* McCain tripped up on one of his signature issues – special appropriation “earmarks.” He said they had “tripled in the last five years,” when in fact they have decreased sharply.
* Obama claimed Iraq “has” a $79 billion surplus. It once was projected to be as high as that. It’s now down to less than $60 billion.
* McCain repeated his overstated claim that the U.S. pays $700 billion a year for oil to hostile nations. Imports are running at about $536 billion this year, and a third of it comes from Canada, Mexico and the U.K.
* Obama said 95 percent of “the American people” would see a tax cut under his proposal. The actual figure is 81 percent of households.
* Obama mischaracterized an aspect of McCain’s health care plan, saying “employers” would be taxed on the value of health benefits provided to workers. Employers wouldn’t, but the workers would. McCain also would grant workers up to a $5,000 tax credit per family to cover health insurance.
* McCain misrepresented Obama's plan by claiming he'd be "handing the health care system over to the federal government." Obama would expand some government programs but would allow people to keep their current plans or chose from private ones, as well.
* McCain claimed Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower had drafted a letter of resignation from the Army to be sent in case the 1944 D-Day landing at Normandy turned out to be a failure. Ike prepared a letter taking responsibility, but he didn’t mention resigning.
Of course, all of the pundits were giving their take on the "debate", that Obama won or McCain won. But the pundits are doing what they do best, which is blowing smoke. First, the debate has to be seen for what it is- political theatre- and to see who can control the medium of television better. It all goes back to the famous Kennedy-Nixon debate of 1960. Nixon was ill with flu and he repeatedly wiped away visible sweat with his handkerchief while Kennedy appeared cool and collected. People who listened to the debate on radio thought Nixon won with his easy familiarity with facts. People who watched the debate on TV thoughts Kennedy won because he looked good.
In this debate, people were eager to see how the 70 year old McCain looked and acted when on the same stage as the 47 year old Obama. Would McCain appear to be on the edge of decrepitude compared to the cool, hip Obama? What were the prevailing images?
To this viewer, McCain more than held his own in the appearance department and he showed he could be a vigorous and engaged commander in chief. Obama, too presented an image of competence, although possibly a quart low in experience. What these two contenders presented, though were markedly different world views, with McCain more in line with a Kissinger-esque realpolitik, while Obama expressed more of an idealist-internationalist position.
The pundits adding up of forensic points and declaring who won or lost, who committed a gaffe or who had the better line is totally worthless. The debate served a valuable function in its capacity to display the real and important differences in the candidates world views, as well as a demonstration of their control over their own images and the power of TV. The real winners of the debate were the viewers.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment