John McCain and Barack Obama clashed heatedly over the financial crisis, Iraq and Pakistan Tuesday, but strove to empathise with voters' economic fears in their second presidential debate. Republican McCain was under intense pressure to throw his sliding campaign a lifeline, as he trails Democrat Obama by widening margins in national polls and in battleground states with time running out before the November 4 election. After days of intensely nasty campaign trail rhetoric, the two senators strolled onto the stage in Nashville, Tennesse, smiling broadly, and shook hands, both patting the other on the arm before their "town-hall" style debate.
But the tension was boiling just below the surface, as both senators laced their answers with attacks on each other's proposals and records. McCain, who was widely criticised for rarely looking at Obama during their first debate two weeks ago, may have let his dislike of his opponent emerge again in a point likely to be discussed exhaustively after their showdown. The Arizona senator said he voted against an energy bill laden down with tax breaks for big oil firms.
"You know who voted for it? That one" he said, in a sharp comment directed at Obama.
In another swipe, McCain hit Obama on taxes. Obama repeatedly made a show of "correcting" McCain's interpretation of his record and proposals, and hit his top talking point of tying the Republican to the unpopular economic legacy of President George W. Bush. The temperatures rose again when the debate veered into national security, as Obama rebuked McCain for saying he wanted to attack Pakistan, over his vow to hit Al-Qaeda targets, in the country if Islamabad would not. McCain cited the maxim that the United States should "talk softly, but carry a big stick," and slammed his rival who he said "likes to talk aloud."
"He has announced that he will attack Pakistan," McCain said.
Obama hit straight back, citing a YouTube video from last year taken on the campaign trail which showed a McCain joke misfiring when he sang "bomb, bomb Iran" to the tune of an old Beach Boys hit. Obama also tried to turn McCain's claims that he lacks experience back against the Arizona senator. McCain laid out a plan to buy up bad mortgages in the United States and renegotiate loans at diminished values to ensure people caught in the foreclosure crunch could keep their homes. Both candidates made clear efforts to speak to their audience directly, crossing the red-carpeted stage at Belmont University to stand a few feet away from the questioner, holding hand-held microphones. Gallup's daily tracking poll Tuesday reflected the high stakes for McCain, giving Obama a nine point lead nationally, while the Democratic nominee is also widening his edge in key battleground states.
The McCain campaign, sensing the fast-running electoral clock, made a strategic turn in the run-up to the debate, sharply attacking Obama's character and suggesting he did not share basic American values. New polls showed Obama with a clear lead over his rival, with the Gallup survey pushing him to a lead of 51 per cent to 42 and a CNN poll putting the Illinois senator on a 53 per cent lead over 45 per cent for McCain. But a CBS poll suggested that the race has tightened from a nine-point Obama lead to a four-point gap since last week's vice presidential debate between Palin and Senator Joseph Biden. [End of report]
I watched the entire debate yesterday and I have to say that it was a rather interesting one. There was nothing big that happened during the debate but I enjoyed watching this debate than the previous one. I dont know about you but I kind of like the idea of having a "town-hall" style of debate as compared to the previous one because the candidates are a lot closer to the people and there are not podiums that stand between their way. In their first debate, I actually thought that John McCain did a slightly better job than Obama, but in the second debate, I think that Obama won it, and Im not saying this because I am an Obama supporter. Before the debate started, I thought McCain would do a better job because he had attended a lot of "town-hall" sessions before prior to the debate and that he really wanted to have a "town-hall" style of debate with Obama right from the start, but Obama managed to stand on his ground and he did pretty well as far as I am concerned. A lot of issues were being discussed, with the economy being the main talking point. Both of them managed to say what they have been constantly saying throughout the campaign trail so far, but I think that McCain sometimes like to twist Obama's words around, saying things that wasnt true.
For example, I still can remember during the time they were asked the question on whether they should respect Pakistan's sovereignty or go ahead and attack the Taliban there without consulting Pakistan first. Obama said that he will try to work with the Pakistani authorities first and that if they refuse to take action, then he will probably go and attack the Taliban himself. John McCain then said that what Obama meant was that he would attack Pakistan straightaway which is obviously not true. Then came my favourite moment of the debate when Obama argued that McCain was the guy who sang, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran! That was pretty funny. As you can read from the report, Obama had to spend a lot of time correcting on McCain's accusations which is not easy because there was a time frame for the debate and if Obama had to continue to correct the accusations, then he wouldnt have any time to talk about his policies and views on things. There was one controversial moment in the debate when McCain jabbed a finger in Obama's direction and said "that one" voted for a pork-barrel energy bill. Now some people see this as offensive, there was a lot of debate by the news pundit on that. Barack Obama's wife, Michelle today in an interview on 'Larry King Live' said that she didnt find that as offensive. Instead, she said Americans don't care about the back and forth between the candidates but rather they want to hear the real answers about how the candidates are going to fix the economy and get the health care benefits on track, echoing what Obama said during the debate.
At the end of the day, I guess that is true afterall. Americans right now are not interested to hear who is wrong or who is right, but rather they want to hear what solutions the candidates have in mind to fix the economy and other important issues. All the back and forth between the candidates should have been done a long time ago, I dont think now is the time but McCain doesnt seem to agree though. During a rally yesterday after the debate, McCain was asking to the crowd who the real Sen. Obama is and tried to paint Obama as a candidate of empty promises. I also just read today that Cindy McCain, McCain's wife, lashed out at Obama on Tuesday, telling a Tennessee newspaper that he has waged the "dirtiest campaign in American history." I really dont know what they are talking about but Im sure Obama wont just listen to all the nonsense and do nothing. Im sure that he will respond to it in the way that he should. John McCain could talk all he wants but at the end of the day, Americans will see the truth and they will know that having Barack Obama as the President is the only way forward.
*The report was taken from AFP.
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