Barack Obama for President

The first question had to do with the current state of the economy as it stands and the plan to fix the current crisis.

Obama said that we have to move swiftly and wisely. That we need to protect taxpayers as we move forward. We need 4 things: 1. Oversight. 2. Taxpayers should get money back with gains. 3. None of the money will go to pad bank accounts or fund golden parachutes. 4. Help homeowners, who are part of the cause of this problem. However, the ultimate cause of the problem was 8 years of failed Bush policies that John McCain supported (including less regulation).

 

 

John McCain sees Republicans and Democrats working together and things one of the answers is reducing our reliance on foreign oil. Huh?

 

Are there fundamental differences between McCain’s and Obama’s approach to solving the problem when they become president.

 

McCain says that we need to get spending under control, I guess assuming that Obama is going to have “out of control spending”. He will veto pork spending and make people famous. How that is an answer to the current financial crisis is beyond me. He will also cut taxes too businesses because he believes it will create jobs. Of course, he ignores the possibility that a tax cut to businesses will be as likely (or more) to fund CEO bonuses and golden parachutes.

 

Obama agrees that there has been earmark abuse. He suspended earmark requests until it gets cleared up. Earmarks are 18 billion dollars. Senator McCain is proposing 300 billion dollars in tax cuts to the wealthiest corporations and individuals in our country. It would give a CEO a 700,000 dollar tax cut. Obama will build the country from bottom up and not from the top down. The bottom 95% will get a tax cut. This will help economic growth. And while he will have some new programs, he will pay for that spending by cutting other items in the budget.

 

Obama also says that while you have a higher tax rate, there are also more loopholes. McCain doesn’t want to close those loopholes while cutting taxes to businesses. Obama also attacked John McCain’s healthcare plan (in the same manner that I did).

 

Obama also brought up the typical tactic of Washington politics. Obama was against a tax cut for oil companies in a bill. He fought against it. That fight failed and he wound up voting for the main bill which happened to include the tax cut. McCain then attacked Obama for voting for the bill even though he fought against the provision. It is typical politics.

 

McCain incorrectly stated, in response to Obama’s comment on healthcare, that we would be handing our healthcare system over to the federal government which is an absolute lie! McCain wants families to make decisions about their healthcare. Under Obama’s plan, they can. I discuss that in my healthcare post here.

 

Much has been said about the lessons of Vietnam, what are the lessons of Iraq.

McCain said that you cannot have a failed strategy that will cause you to nearly lose a conflict. The war was mishandled. He also said that our troops will come home, and not in defeat. He keeps taking about defeat. Of course, I explain why McCain is wrong about “defeat” here.

 

Obama brought up that we should have not gone into Iraq in the first place. Not only did we not know how much it will cost, we didn’t know how much it would cost, we didn’t know how it would effect our global relationships, and we had not caught Osama bin Ladin and stopped Al Queada and our going into Iraq would be a distraction. I think Obama must read my blog!

 

McCain said he wouldn’t publicly state that he would send troops into Pakistan to go after Al Queda. He didn’t say he wouldn’t do it, he just said he wouldn’t state it publicly. How convinced are you? Obama stated that if Pakistan won’t act, then he would absolutely go after them. And people question if Obama will be strong with our military if need be?

 

What is the threat from Iran?

 

McCain states that if Iran acquires nuclear weapons, it is a threat to Israel and to the region. He proposes a coalition of Democracies to impose significant sanctions on Iran because Russia has blocked meaningful action in the U.N.. So let me get this straight. McCain wont commit to going into Pakistan but he will commit to circumventing the U.N. to go against the desires of Russia? I am not saying that Russia should have a veto power on our actions by any means. However, I find it very hypocritical that McCain wont publicly say things that might anger Pakistan but he freely says things that obviously would upset Russia.

 

Obama believes that the republican guard of Iran is a terrorist organization. We cannot tolerate a nuclear Iran. It would threaten Israel (our stalwart ally) and create instability in the region. Obama does not see us taking meaningful action without Russia and other non Democratic trade partners of Iran.

 

The issue of preconditions before negotiations came up. McCain feels that such actions would “legitimize” these leaders that he disagrees with and their illegal behavior. Obama reserves the right as President to meet with anyone at anytime if he feels that it will keep America safe. Obama stated that meeting without preconditions does not mean we just invite them over to tea. But we need to keep all options on the table.

 

To me, keeping all options on the table is the best way to go. It doesn’t mean we have to go right to open discussions, but it means we can IF that is the best option out there. Why handcuff our foreign policy? It makes no sense.

 

How do you see the relationship with Russia?

 

Obama says that given the last weeks and months, our approach needs to be evaluated when it comes to Russia. Their actions in Georgia are unacceptable and unwarranted. We have to explain that Russia cannot be a 21^st century power while acting like a 20^th century dictatorship. We also need to work with Russia to deal with the issue of lose nuclear weapons. We cannot have a President that just peers into the eyes of the leader and peers at his soul.

 

McCain looked into Putin’s eyes and saw KGB. But there was not much disagreement between the two candidates.

What are the chances of another 9/11 type attack on US soil?

 

McCain believes that we are safer now than we were on 9/11 but that we are a long way from “safe”. But we have a long way to go. He supported the 9/11 commission in opposition to the President.

 

Obama says that we are safer in some ways. We have worked to secure targets and have increased airport security but we have a long way to go. We need to work on chemical plants, our ports, and our transit. The biggest threat is a terrorist with a suitcase nuke. However, we keep focusing on strictly missile defense. We need to increase funding on the former.

 

To solve the issue of terrorism, we need to deal with Al Queda, who is operating in 60 countries. He says the way we are perceived in the world is going to make a difference in our ability to get cooperation and eliminate terrorism. By rebuilding our respect, we will get help from other countries in solving the global problem of terrorism.

 

McCain keeps saying that if we “fail in Iraq” and the “consequences of defeat” that we will embolden Al Queda and that Barack Obama doesn’t understand that. What Senator McCain doesn’t understand is that Obama is aiming for victory in Iraq by helping them to defend themselves so we can leave.

 

The only thing that I wish Obama would have done differently tonight would have been to challenge McCain’s claims of “failure” and “defeat” in Iraq. Of course, as I typed this, Obama said “nobody is talking about losing this war”. So good!

 

How on earth can John McCain claim that Obama has made the wrong decision when on the issue of Iraq, Obama was one of the only ones who stood up like a leader and was dead on 100 percent correct?!?!?!

 

Now, who won this debate? I am not going to say that Barack Obama smacked it out the park. However, I think Obama made some very important attacks on McCain and did an excellent job. I have to say that Barack Obama won round 1.

 

This entry was posted on Friday, September 26th, 2008 at 20:03 and is filed under Debate 1, John McCain, Barack Obama. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.