The First Debate

I am completely biased in favor of Obama.

I am disgusted by John McCain and everything he does.
1. Talking about the past over and over and over. And over and over again. We have moved to the 21st centrury, you know? I wish Obama would have had a come back for that. I can think of a few but they're not appropriate for a presidential debate. "Are you aware we're in a new millenium?" "Its a different world today than the past you keep referring to and the old rules no longer apply - other than the golden rule - do unto others as you would have them do unto you. As President I'll be keeping that in mind."
2. Continued references to Obama's supposed naivete (sp?) and that Obama doesn't understand. All I can say is a lot of swear words and then "Just because I don't agree with you doesn't mean I don't understand. I understand. I think you're fundamentals are all wrong."
3. Facial expressions - what an ass.
4. He rambled and repeated his talking point phrases reapeatedly. Endlessly. He was so boring and repetitive MFJ and I could hardly stand it. We realized that quite often we could talk over him and not miss a thing. Ugh.
5. He wouldn't look at Obama and didn't understand the rules of the debate. There was SUPPOSED TO BE INTERACTION!!! Mr. McCain you were supposed to direct rebuttal questions to Obama if you needed to. You didn't even know how to. You couldn't even adjust your tone, style, or content. You can't think on your feet.
6. His mocking tone while reenacting a supposed conversation between Obama and the leader of Iran. Ridiculous.
7. It doesn't matter how many times he's told the truth, or is rebutted. He doesn't change his story.

I can't remember one thing he did that I liked. Absolutely nothing. If he said something reasonably well it was policy I don't agree with.

I don't like the man and I don't like his policies. He's bad for me and bad for the country and bad for the entire planet. He's trying too hard to be something he's not. What a jerk!

As for Obama
1. He could never have lived up to my hopes for him. Given McCain's bad week, it would have been the best thing ever if Obama could have decisively won the debate. He didn't overwhelm McCain. I mean, he did in my opinion of course. But, realistically Obama wasn't flawless.
2. I wish he'd answered a couple of the questions more directly. His answer about putting some parts of his plan off for a little because of the current economic crisis was good, but it got buried at the end when Lehrer had to ask the question again.
3. I wanted Obama to have more quips. MFJ wanted zingers. The part where he said "you said this and you were wrong, you said that and you were wrong" etc. My recollection is he didn't remember the 'You were wrong" until the second thing he said.

My other issue is the debate format.
1. I think the candidates should not be able to say "you voted this way 400 times" or whatever. It doesn't help anything and it just makes people say "no I didn't" "yes you did" that's silly. It doesn't look good for Obama or McCain. If they want to bring up the person's record, it should be the moderator's duty to remind people of the truth. Yes, he voted against it, but its because there was an amendment on it. Like that. Obama tried to do that in one part of the debate, he commented that McCain didn't vote for troop funding when there was a timetable attached, and Obama didn't for troop funding when there wasn't a timetable attached. It wasn't about supporting the troops, it was about the timetable. I highlighted that part because its a good indication of the kind of person Obama is. He doesn't have to lie or twist the truth in order to serve some purpose.

2. I think the questions weren't very good. They should have been...
Do you believe in deregulation?
Do you believe in preemptive war? (The Bush Doctrine! HA! That would have been kind of funny if Lehrer had asked the same question Charlie Gibson asked Sarah Palin.)
What is the driving engine of the economy?
What role should religion play in the government?
Those are very good questions that would have elicited good information. The candidates can't just rumble along meandering through silly talking points. They have to give an answer. You'd think anyway.
Somehow the moderators think they're coming up with probing questions, but they're too general and its too easy for the candidates to switch the question around.

I think the moderator should require answers that make sense. They should be challenge the candidates when they make comments that are unreasonable given the information.

As much as I like The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, I didn't like the way this debate worked. They tried to have a good idea, but couldn't make it work if John McCain wouldn't do it. Obama tried to do it, but if one person isn't going to be part of the conversation its hard to include them.

Maybe Obama should have pointed out that the same way McCain is not looking at him and won't acknolwedge him and can't adjust to the new format of the debate is the same way he'll run his foreign policy...he'll ignore countries he doesn't care about and move along on his path no matter what's happening in the world.

I think Obama would make a wonderful president. He might not be perfect, but he's smart and he'll work toward policies that I agree with.

John McCain will get us into worse trouble than we're in now.

I'd like to also note he said in the debate that he was going to vote for the bailout plan...he just threw it off - he said "sure". I think he wasn't even paying attention to the question.

What an idiot - yeah - I dislike him so much I can hardly stand it. I don't like that his presence makes me so angry and frustrated. I need to find some peace. Its hard to be peaceful and calm when I think he's going to ruin the country.

I don't know how Obama can do it. I really don't. He has so much more patience and peace and calm than I do. I don't have the temperament to run for office.

Although, I'd rather be a Senator than a President. I like working in groups and brainstorming solutions and stuff.