Nathan Wuertenberg
Staff Reporter
“Senator Obama just doesn’t seem to understand.” This phrase, uttered by Presidential hopeful Senator John McCain, was repeated several times over the course of an hour and a half long debate on Friday, September 26th. The debate took place at the University of Mississippi in Oxford and was intended to cover issues of foreign policy and the current “War on Terror.”
However, due to the current crisis on Wall Street, an issue which nearly caused the postponement of the debates, the first half of the evening was devoted to addressing economic issues, most importantly the meltdown in the financial world.
For much of the first half of the evening, it seemed as if the economic portion of the debate would end in a draw. “Neither of them really answered questions,” said sophomore Brady Eisenberg, “they just seemed to dance around the issues.” Each candidate appeared to hold the same positions as the other and despite their efforts to the contrary, listing on their fingers the various points of their plans for economic stability, each had only generic solutions for an issue that requires specific actions and a thorough knowledge of economics and finance. McCain continued to focus on the termination of irresponsible government spending, while Obama focused on “Main Street” versus Wall Street, bringing savings to the American people and not to their government. This theme continued for the next several minutes, with each candidate refusing to specify anything more than their previous generic economic stimulus plans.
However, at the very moment it seemed nothing more could be said of each candidate’s positions, McCain offered up an idea which had never before been proposed by either candidates during their campaigns. McCain proposed a drastic measure to halt the nearly out-of-control government spending policies: a spending freeze on all programs save entitlements, veterans programs, and defense. This proposal was unexpected, unprecedented, and ignored by Obama, who failed to give a satisfactory response to McCain’s “surprise”.
From that point onward the moderator Jim Lehrer’s questions began to focus more on foreign policy and the current “War on Terror.” McCain was in a naturally stronger position that Obama, given his wealth of experience in that particular area and the incredible success of his troop surge policy in Iraq. McCain sought to press this advantage, mentioning time and time again the tactical success of his plan.
Obama’s answer was simple: the War in Iraq did not begin in 2007, it began much earlier than that and should not have in fact have even occurred. Obama pointed out that, while McCain had been an ardent supporter of the Bush administration, he had been against the War since its inception and had insisted that the focus of the “War on Terror” remain in Afghanistan. McCain, he stated, seemed to think that it was permissible to sweep Afghanistan under the rug while his goals in Iraq were accomplished.
Obama went on to advocate, if necessary, the covert invasion of Pakistan in search of Osama Bin Laden, a stance that surprised Obama supporter freshman Eddie Ezekiel.
“It was unusual for a Democrat to support an invasion,” Ezekiel said. Even more surprising was the fact that McCain found the idea less that appealing, stating that Pakistan had remained our staunch allies throughout the “War on Terror” and any invasion of that nation would be unwise and uncalled for. He continued by pointing that if such an invasion were necessary for national security, the last thing a President wants to do is broadcast his plans to the world. In essence, a covert invasion must remain covert to be successful.
After this point was made, the debate became centered on the United States’ relationships with other nations. Of particular interest were each candidates methods of dealing with the leaders of nations like Iran, who pose a considerable threat to national security. While Obama stated he would meet face to face with any leader he saw fit, McCain was unwilling to do so unconditionally.
According to Senator McCain, preconditions to any such meeting are essential to ensure the United States’ goals are reached in any issue of national security.
McCain went on to state that any notion to the contrary was ludicrous.
However, when Obama pointed out that McCain’s own adviser, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, had advised a face to face meeting with the leader of Iran without preconditions, McCain simply ignored that fact, an action which sophomore Sean Fitzgerald believes won Obama the debate.
“It was McCain’s chance to say that he spoke for himself and could make his own decisions without listening to his advisors all of the time,” Fitzgerald said, “McCain missed his opportunity.” McCain did not miss his opportunity, however, to allow the American people a further glimpse into the future of foreign policy under a McCain administration. In order to ensure that the leader of any nation meeting with the President of the United States was amenable to our nation’s demands, McCain proposed a “League of Democracies” peopled by like-minded democratic nations who could use the full brunt of their diplomatic and economic powers against any nation that was deemed a threat to national security, like, for instance, economic sanctions to prevent Iran from producing nuclear weapons. This, McCain stated, would ensure the cooperation of the global community and the protection of American interests.
After a few more questions along the same lines, the debate came to a close. It must be said that despite opinions to the contrary, it did not appear that there was any clear winner, a common theme of any political debate, especially on the Presidential level. Any clear win in any debate will only ever be attributed to the stupidity of one of the participants, whether in speech or deed, an occurrence which may very well be demonstrated for the entire nation during the upcoming Vice-Presidential debates, whether through Palin’s supposed ignorance or Biden’s arrogance and knack for finding something offensive to say. Either outcome will surely be entertaining.