Second presidential debate done in the Town Hall format, which did not appeal to me. The candidates (McCain and Obama)repeated what they had said in the first debate.
What did I think? Obama did fine; he was calm, presidential, composed, and he answered intelligently. He is an intelligent man, more of an intellectual than a politician, although he has good political instincts or has surrounded himself with people who know about these matters.
McCain looked like an angry old man, just simmering, simmering...he looked like he'd snap at any second. He IS an angry person; he jokes around, grins a lot, tries to be personable but you can feel his seething anger. He answered the questions fine, and repeated what he had said beforehand, and attacked Obama as he had done so in the first debate. Once, the camera caught him walking and apparently communicating with someone in the audience, and McCain was making a face and moved his right hand as if to indicate so-so. Further, McCain rudely referred to Obama as "that one."
The debate wasn't dramatic; in fact I became bored in the middle of the event. I don't know if the format was to blame, but it lacked energy, and the candidates didn't always answer the questions but took the time to attack the other. McCain was really doing this more, although Obama also pointed out McCain's weaknesses. They'd run out of time, and finally Brokaw had to chastise them to limit their talks.
Political analysts had indicated McCain needed to do something dramatic to turn the downward dive of his campaign. He didn't do this; he didn't excel. So, if what the analysts said is true, then the McCain campaign should continue it's descent. And factoring that aspect into the fact that he appeared like an angry old man - McCain lost to the cool, calm (albeit tired) Obama.
However, I am holding my breath because nothing's a given here. Republicans have a lot of tricks up their sleeve including cheating...and there's the race issue. There are people who simply will not vote for a black man even if their ship were sinking, which is happening right now - the US economy is in the worst state since the Great Depression.
But we shall see what happens. As mentioned, the American people will have to choose.
About Me
- Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
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- Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books.. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized. Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.
Wow. I really liked your insight. I didn't really watch the debates and feel bad that I didn't. However, I feel like you definitely know what you are talking about although a little biased. But then again, I favor Obama and many of my friends also agree on what you say about McCain.
ReplyDeleteWhat's your view on the differences of how each addresses some of the U.S. issues? Since the president can't really guarantee such a thing nor does he/she have the power to do such things when elected in office, do you really think they will carry out their ideas? If so, which ones?
The Republicans and Democrats have different philosophies, different ways of looking at things, and different ways of addressing issues. McCain guarantees a protracted war in Iraq, and possibly in other places; he is a war monger. McCain's advisers are the same Bush people - look this up. What this means is that the Bush doctrine will continue via McCain.
ReplyDeleteThere are many problems in the US, thanks in large part to Bush, and it will take years to fix these, but I believe that Democratic leadership will start the fixing of these problems.