- McCain's insistence on earmarks as a major issue just cannot possibly resonate with voters. McCain is a long-term Senator who sees how this inside-baseball issue is a bad thing. All it does is show how terribly out of touch he is. when's the last time you sat around the table with your family and discussed how important fixing the earmark process is?
Obama basically murdered him in the beginning of the debate, the economics issues. I'd bet you any money that after a 45 minutes in, half of the country tuned out.
- Damned if you do; damned if you don't. There have been plenty of substance-free debates over the course of the last year or so. This debate was full of substance, and light on theatrics. Two very serious men showed their differences of opinion. What does the national press say? A bit too dull?
I'd rather a dull, detailed debate than a bunch of gotcha moments. That's because I don't make my money from gotcha moments.
- The foreign policy part was a draw. McCain was absolutely wrong about how he wants to go about things, but he was able to make arguments based on a coherent philosophy. It's just wrong headed. Obama held his own by being confidently in the right about these issues.
I was glad to see that Obama refused to engage on the "surge" question. McCain kept bringing it up, and Obama just steped around it. Perfect way to handle it.
- All in all, I'm not surprised more people thought Obama won, even if I think he could have done better. He's more telegenic, he held his ground easily, and he seemed interested in the needs of regular Americans. This isn't a debate where you win on points; it's about the voters. Obama cares about human beings, McCain cares about his legacy and his "life's work."
- I think McCain's anger with and contempt for Obama comes through all over the place, and its working in Obama's favor. It just classless and it shows a man who takes disagreement personally. That's not the sort of President people want to spend the next four years with.
About Me
- Freeman
- Matthew Freeman is a Brooklyn based playwright with a BFA from Emerson College. His plays include THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR, REASONS FOR MOVING, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE AMERICANS, THE WHITE SWALLOW, AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, THE MOST WONDERFUL LOVE, WHEN IS A CLOCK, GLEE CLUB, THAT OLD SOFT SHOE and BRANDYWINE DISTILLERY FIRE. He served as Assistant Producer and Senior Writer for the live webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve 2010-2012. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to Gamespy, Premiere, Complex Magazine, Maxim Online, and MTV Magazine. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Inc., New York Theatre Experience, and Samuel French.
2 comments:
These men were just going at each other, McCain wants it too much to allow things like facts to get in his way.
The surge is an escalation of the war and yes pushing in more troops makes us a less enticing threat to local fighters, but the fact is there really is no victory scenario.
The local population says hello and smiles during the day and at night comes up with new ways to get us out of their country.
McCain of all people really should have learned from Vietnam. Where that was frequently the case.
An escalation of troops wins battles sure, but we can't win this way.
The military of Iraq is already defeated. the pockets of resistance are simply the locals embracing US invaders exactly the way George Washington did with the Red Coats.
You know George Washington only won one battle, all the others were hit and run gorilla style raids. But the British would always capture ground, take bridges, occupy towns, and on paper they won nearly every objective their military went for.
I'm sure British probably thought that their military surge appeared to be working. Right up until they lost.
Matt, I appreciate your comments on the first debate. I think the term "what Barrack just doesn't understand is...etc," was used about 7 times too many. I could not wait to check factcheck.org last Saturday morning to look into the Kissinger comments. Tonight should be interesting. Ha. I think its possible Tina Fey will do a better job.
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