Reaction to Debate of 10/07/2008
My friends, tonight Barack Obama and John McCain had a town hall style debate. You know that of course. I’m just stalling because I’m looking for words to describe the debate tonight. Something other than “boring” and “anti-climatic.” But, those are the only words I can think of so I guess if they fit, we’ll use them. For the most part I think all the issues were old issues. With that said, there are still a few things I’d like to discuss.
First of all. John McCain and Barack Obama, both, are scared to death to even mention the poor class. Maybe the politically correct term is “working class.” Constantly, all you hear is “middle class.” I think it’s their way of making people feel better about themselves. I know they realize that there are people who are below the middle class. At least, I hope they realize it. In my opinion, though. I don’t think trickle down economics is working. I don’t think anything is working. I think there needs to be a focus on poor people, the poor class and I don’t hear that.
I’m sorry, you can disagree with me on this, but I do not think that the American workforce is the best. Look at the cars on the road. Where do the best cars come from? The best cars come from Germany (in my honest opinion). American jobs are being shipped overseas all the time. Right here in Tennessee there were a ton of plants that were closed and shipped to Honduras. Two plants right here in Morgan County are long gone because of the work being sent to Honduras. The Red Kap (VF Image Wear) and the Tenneford Weaving Company closed up and the workers of those plants were drastically effected and are still effected because of those plants closing. I know a lot of them. A lot of them are family. Most of the ones I know got a job out of the county. They have to drive an hour every single day, back and forth to work. Some of them drive an even longer distance. They have to drive long distances to work, they don’t get great health care benefits at work, they have to put up with companies that don’t follow regulations, they are paying even hire gas prices at the pump and they’re sick and tired of being sick and tired. The American workforce is not happy. I’m not saying that Americans aren’t hard working. What I am saying is that they are tired and the quality of their work is showing. That makes more companies want to send work to another country where people will work harder for a lot less money.
McCain wants to give families $5,000 to each family for health care insurance, per year. I’m sure he’s going to tax it somewhere. If you don’t tax it then where is that money going to come from? I digress. Anyways, where does McCain get the idea that $5,000 is even enough to cover health care costs of a family of just four? Sure, that might be enough for a couple of doctor’s visits and checkups. But you’re still going to have to deal with insurance companies who don’t want to pay for pre-existing conditions. I really think Obama’s plan for health care is just better.
I really think Obama did a great job tonight of defending himself. I think McCain kept making petty attacks that were stupid and retarded. I hate that there wasn’t enough time for Obama to defend every single one of his positions, though. I think everyone saw McCain trying to get on the voter’s good side, to make people laugh, to get a few jabs in. While Barack Obama really showed himself as a Presidential candidate. He used the facts and not jokes.
Most of what I heard from McCain tonight is what we’ve done in the past. What he’s done in the past. Not what he intends to do in the future. On the other hand Obama laid out plans for what needs to happen regarding Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc. While I don’t agree with all of Obama’s plans, at least he laid some out. He didn’t lay out plans for every question asked but he most certainly laid out more plans than John McCain did.
I keep going back to John McCain’s plan for the economy. If he had such a good plan for the economy, why didn’t he tell us in the debate two weeks ago? Why didn’t he tell us tonight? Oh he’s a Maverick alright, suspending his campaign and going to Washington to help make a plan. What was that plan? You going to tell us once you get into office? No thank you!
I think the idea of putting more money and efforts into the Peace Corps is a great idea. I think there are a lot of people who want to help out people in need but aren’t military material. They don’t want to put up with the crap that you have to put up with in the military. Of course, John McCain turns around and says that will raises taxes. I’ll write more about that in a moment. I really think that offering more services to other countries through the Peace Corps is a great idea. It helps other countries see us in a different light, not as terrorists. It would help restore our country’s image as to something others would want to aspire to be like.
I really love how the Republicans scare people with taxes. The Democrats do it, too. Not as bad in my opinion. Everyone wants more public services. Where do these people think the money comes from? I’d rather see taxes go up, have more public services and have more accountability of the government.
I really loved when John McCain said during the debate that there was no time for on the job training. I laughed really hard. I mean seriously, did he forget who his running mate is? I think he wants us to forget!
We went back to the topic of pre-conditions tonight and I’m really glad we did. I’m glad Obama gave his reasonings for having talks without pre-conditions. His reasons were basically the same reasons I gave in the previous debate response.
Like I said in my stalled introduction, I think tonight’s debate was a bit boring. I think most of the old issues were re-hashed. I said on Twitter the other day that both parties are preaching to their respective choirs. If at this point there is someone who is un-decided, then honey, there is absolutely no hope for you!
Tags: debate, election, mccain, obama, presidential election

October 8th, 2008 at 3:39 am
(Ant-spam word = “fatty.” LOLZ.)
I’m a cynical old man, Andy. At the end of the day, I don’t see much of a difference between the Democrats and Republicans. Regardless, I’ll be voting Obama. I hope his promises of change aren’t empty ones.
October 8th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Shawno - I think there are differences but I don’t think that there are many. The main differences that I see are that Obama wants to get us out of wars and do more diplomacy. McCain is in it to win it and that’s all he cares about.
The other difference that I see is in regards to gay marriage. I think Obama/Biden have every intention of supporting civil unions and GLBT rights. McCain/Palin say they want the GLBT community to have rights but don’t want them to have all rights. McCain doesn’t want to make laws to protect GLBT people.
Glad you’re voting for Obama!
October 8th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
I thought there were some definite racial undertones to the debate. First when McCain referred to Obama as “that one”. I don’t think it was deliberate on McCain’s part but it underlies how little respect he has for Obama. I can’t imagine anyone referring to John Kerry or Al Gore as “that one.”
The other part was when responding to a question about the economy from a black male in the audience, he told him that “I’m sure you had never heard of Fannie May or Freddie Mac before this crisis”. While that may or may not be true, it was condescending.
Am I calling McCain an overt racist? No…But his condescending communication style with Obama and that black male in the audience underscores racial bias in White America that we are still in denial about.
October 14th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Rebecca Nay - I don’t know if McCain was intentionally being racist but it definitely, like you said, shows that he has no respect for Obama. What shows that he doesn’t have any respect for Obama even more is how they’ve been attacking him on things that are simply not true.
The part where McCain said “I’m sure you have never heard of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac before this crisis” was really shocking. The people in that room were obviously scholars. Just another reason John McCain, simply, doesn’t get it.
I agree, wholeheartedly that there is racism in America. I live in it every single day. Racism, homophobia and xenophobia are strong in the South.