Posted by
Sean Engmann on Wednesday, October 08, 2008 3:56:20 AM
Tonight's debate was an absolutely abysmal failure for John McCain, who may now have irrepairably harmed his chances of winning the Presidency. Time after time, McCain had opportunities to focus the harsh glare of the national spotlight onto Barack Obama's economic policies, and time after time he failed. Though slightly better on foreign policy, McCain had opportunities to paint Obama as the neophyte that he is, yet he failed to do so. The strategy of "I have experience" and "I have a record" is a failed strategy, as everyone already knows that. In order for McCain to win, the election must be a referendum on Obama, and any opportunity where Obama can glibly blame the Bush Administration represents a win for Obama. More astonishingly though, in this debate, McCain allowed Obama to paint himself, unchallenged as the candidate of fiscal responsibility, while McCain risked alienating his base by proposing a whopping 300 billion dollar mortgage buy-up on top of the relief package. Unreal.
Like a masterful thespian, Obama played to the audience, telling them, in Clintonesque terms, that he feels their pain. He played into resentment, by continuing to assert, unchallenged, that he will cut taxes for 95% of Americans. Not once did McCain mention the capital gains tax, and not once did he challenge the 95% figure, which assumes that millions who pay no federal income taxes will somehow get a tax cut. McCain did not speak in simple terms of the devastation that a tax hike would bring in this economy, particularly a hike in the capital gains tax. Not once was FICA mentioned. Most importantly, though, McCain did not press Obama on how he would pay for the myriad of new entitlement programs and spending that he has proposed, nor did he challenge Obama when he claimed that he was actually going to reduce spending. In fact it was OBAMA who accused McCain of being the candidate, "With lots of great ideas, but no plan on how to fund them." Obama, amazingly, came out as the candidate of fiscal responsibility. Again, unreal.
In terms of health care, McCain had his opportunities to rip apart the plan in the context of the financial crisis. McCain gained traction when he spoke of Obama's mandates, but he did not articulate in simple terms what the mandates would mean to the quality of healthcare. McCain was absolutely correct when he said healthcare is a responsibility, while Obama claimed it was a right granted by the government. The housing crisis is a perfect example of what happens when the government says that something market driven is a right, as subprime loans, given to people without adequate credit and pushed by the government in the name of "affordable housing" crippled the financial markets. McCain missed an opportunity to talk about personal responsibility.
Finally, on foreign policy, Obama stated the desire to pursue freedom around the globe in places like Darfur, yet he expressed firm opposition to the war in Iraq. McCain could have easily used this as a chance to defend our going into Iraq and the good that our troops have done there in removing a brutal dictator. Further, he could have used that as an opportunity to boast of the success of the surge and explain that we were indeed treated as liberators at the beginning while accusing Obama of inconsistency and naivity. President Bush tapped into the sentiment of praising the efforts of our troops in 2004 to great success against the pessimism of Kerry and McCain could've done the same.
Barack Obama tonight proved to be a puppeteer and a chameleon. He was pulling all the right strings on all the issues and getting the American people to see things his way. He knew what his weaknesses were going in, particularly lack of fiscal responsibility, and he used clever words to make them strengths. In fact he directly addressed his lack of fiscal responsibility and his inexperience and used them to attack McCain. Obama is the worst kind of politician, he shapes his words and changes his positions to define himself and mold himself into a palatable candidate for the American people. Worse yet, he can never admit any mistake and he says he's always had the answers, even when the opposite is clearly true. Nobody knows what he stands for, and by allowing him to define himself and pass the referendum, he will likely find himself in the White House.