Well, I just finished watching the debate. Or I should say that I finished watching the foreign policy segment of the debate. I made it home from work just in time to catch the beginning of the debate, but the remotes had been hidden by one of the children. Forty minutes in, the remotes were found and I could turn the channel. I love systems that depend on remotes. This take on the debate focuses on forty minutes in till the end.
John McCain refused to look at Obama. This bothered me. It did not seem civil or statesman like. Obama would talk to McCain, but McCain would not look at him. This is representative of their approach on talking with "rogue" nations. There is this tendency in our culture for people to not talk to those they disagree with. McCain seemed to exemplify this tonight. Obama overcame this cultural tendency and wants to overcome it on an international level. This whole idea that we should only meet with nations after they meet preconditions is ridiculous. What would be the purpose of negotiating if the party you want to change had to already change before you were willing to negotiate? Negotiation is what brings about change, not silence. The sad state that we find our nation and world in is a direct result of the policies of a President who refused to negotiate with those he disagreed with.
John McCain continued to hammer Obama with misrepresentations of Obama's positions. His view on Georgia and his view on the surge are two examples. At one point McCain said that Obama thought the surge was unsuccessful. At another he claimed that Obama thought the surge was successful. It is tough to be consistent when you are lying. I understand that the Republican base out there really likes to hammer Obama over these misrepresentations because they believe the misrepresentations are real, but I thought McCain acted disingenuous throughout the whole debate. I thought Obama handled it well by not letting any of the misrepresentations stand.
On their positions concerning foreign policy, I agree with Obama whenever they disagreed.
I chuckled at McCain's mistake in calling Iran an "existential threat" to Iran rather than an "exponential threat." It is irrelevant but it provided good humor.
I think Obama took a lead in my undecided vote that will be hard to surmount tonight. I felt that he was honest and that McCain was dishonest. That is something that goes beyond the issues. The straight talk express did not talk so straight. Maybe I was tainted by McCain's recent lie to David Letterman. If you don't know the story, McCain told Letterman that he couldn't be on his show the other night when he was scheduled to because he had to get back to Washington. Letterman then showed McCain on internal CBS cameras, which Letterman has access to, getting made up for an interview with Katie Couric. McCain was not getting back to Washington like he claimed but was in the CBS studios preparing to talk to Couric. I do not want another dishonest President.
The main question is what other undecided voters thought. I figure the base of both parties liked the candidates tonight.
