From the economy to foreign affairs to the way they carried themselves on stage, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama offered a dramatic contrast to the nation in their first presidential debate
on Friday night, mixing disdain and often caustic remarks as they set
out sharply different views of how they would manage the country and
confront America’s adversaries abroad.The two men met for 90 minutes against the backdrop of the nation’s worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and intensive negotiations in Congress over a $700 billion bailout plan for Wall Street. Despite
repeated prodding, Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama refused to point to any
major adjustments they would need to make to their governing agendas —
like scaling back promised tax reductions or spending programs — to
accommodate what both men said could be very tough economic times for
the next president. For the first 40 minutes, Mr. Obama
repeatedly sought to link Mr. McCain to President Bush, and suggested
that it was policies of excessive deregulation that led to the
financial crisis and mounting economic problems the nation faces now. “We
also have to recognize that this is a final verdict on eight years of
failed economic policies promoted by George Bush, supported by Senator
McCain — the theory that basically says that we can shred regulations
and consumer protections and give more and more to the most and somehow
prosperity will trickle down,” Mr. Obama said. “It hasn’t worked, and I
think that the fundamentals of the economy have to be measured by
whether or not the middle class is getting a fair shake.” Mr.
McCain became more animated during the second part of the debate, when
it shifted to the advertised topic: foreign policy and national
security. The two men offered strong and fundamentally different
arguments about the wisdom of going to war against Iraq — which Mr.
McCain supported and Mr. Obama opposed — as well as how to deal with
Iran. More than anything, Mr. McCain seemed intent on
presenting Mr. Obama as green and inexperienced, a risky choice during
a difficult time. Again and again, sounding almost like a professor
talking down to a new student, he talked about having to explain
foreign policy to Mr. Obama and repeatedly invoked his 30 years of
history on national security (even though Mr. McCain, in the kind of
misstep that no doubt would have been used by Republicans against Mr.
Obama, mangled the name of the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and he stumbled over the name of Pakistan’s newly inaugurated president, calling him “Qadari.” His name is actually Asif Ali Zardari.).“I
don’t think I need any on-the-job training,” Mr. McCain said in the
closing moments of the debate. “I’m ready to go at it right now.” But
Mr. Obama seemed calm and in control and seemed to hold his own on
foreign policy, the subject on which Mr. McCain was assumed to hold a
natural advantage. Mr. Obama talked in detail about foreign countries
and their leaders, as if trying to assure the audience that he could
hold his own on the world stage. He raised his own questions about Mr.
McCain’s judgment in supporting the Iraq war. “You like to
pretend like the war started in 2007 — you talk about the surge. The
war started in 2003,” Mr. Obama said. “At the time, when the war
started, you said it was going to be quick and easy. You said we knew
where the weapons of mass destruction were. You were wrong. You said
that we were going to be greeted as liberators. You were wrong.” There
were no obvious game-changing moments — big mistakes, or the kind of
sound bites that dominate the news for days — in the course of the
90-minute debate, held at the University of Mississippi
in Oxford. Still, the debate served as a reminder of just how different
these two men would be as president as they appeared for their first
extended session together before a huge audience, including many
Americans who are just beginning to focus on this long-lasting race. The
differences were in no small part stylistic and visible with a glance
to the stage: a 47-year-old black man who has been in the Senate for
nearly four years standing at one lectern, facing a 72-year-old
white-haired fixture of the Senate standing across from him. In many
ways, Mr. Obama was a very different candidate than he was during the
primary battles. He answered questions directly and affirmatively,
typically looking right into the camera as he spoke. Throughout
the debate, Mr. Obama called Mr. McCain by his first name; Mr. McCain
did not. The direct engagement was encouraged by the moderator, Jim Lehrer of PBS,
who declared, “I’m just determined to get you all to talk to each
other,” though it was an invitation that the two men repeatedly ignored. Mr.
McCain was feisty and aggressive but, particularly during the start of
the debate, his language and demeanor offered a reminder of just how
much he was a creature of the Senate, as he used phrases that were no
doubt understandable in Washington but might have been lost to the
audience at home. He spent much of the first 20 minutes of the debate
criticizing Mr. Obama for supporting earmarks, special projects sought
by members for their district. “The United States Senate will
take up a continuing resolution tomorrow or the next day — sometime
next week — with 2,000 — 2,000 — look at them, my friends,” he said.
“Look at ’em. You’ll be appalled. And Senator Obama is a recent
convert, after requesting $932 million worth of pork-barrel spending
projects.” SOURCE:NYT.COM