The stakes were higher than ever tonight as Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain went toe-to-toe on the economy and foreign policy at the first presidential debate at the University of Mississippi. Although the forum was supposed to focus solely on foreign policy and national security matters, recent events made it necessary to include the nation’s troubled economy, as well.
Moderator Jim Lehrer’s opening question intertwined the two. Citing a quote from Dwight Eisenhower, who said, “We must attain both security and solvency. In fact the foundation of military strength is economic strength,” the PBS newsman asked where each stood on the financial recovery package. Neither man actually answered the question, but Obama lobbed the first shot by immediately linking McCain to President George W. Bush.
The financial crisis, he said, “is a final verdict on eight years of failed economic policies promoted by George Bush, supported by Sen. McCain. A theory that basically says that we can shred regulations and consumer protections, give more and more to the most and somehow prosperity will trickle down. It hasn’t worked.” McCain tried to distance himself from Bush by frequently making reference to his willingness to buck his party, saying more than once that he was never considered “Miss Congeniality” on Capitol Hill.
When the debate turned to Iraq, the candidates returned to familiar ground with Obama speaking of his judgment in getting into the war in the first place and McCain talking about the necessity to leave Iraq in victory. McCain told his rival that the next president will not have to address the issue of whether we should have gone into Iraq to begin with, but how to leave with a win, effectively looking forward rather than back as Obama often does.
Obama retorted by saying that the question for the next president is “Are we making good judgments about how to keep Americans safe, precisely because sending our military into battle is such an enormous step. And the point I originally made is that we took our eye off of Afghanistan and took our eye off the folks who perpetrated 9/11.”
The candidates had a feisty debate over Iran, with McCain accusing Obama of being willing to meet
preconditions, which the Democrat said was a mischaracterization of his position. He added that McCain’s own advisor, Henry Kissinger, a former secretary of state, has promoted meeting with Iran unconditionally. McCain shot back several times with the charge that Obama is inexperienced and “doesn’t understand foreign policy concepts and dynamics.”
Each candidate basically held his own throughout the night, and neither had a decisive win, according to analysts. But a CNN/Opinion A Research Corporation poll showed that 51% felt that Obama did the best job; 58% said he would handle the economy better and 52% said he’d handle Iraq better. In a CBS News/Knowledge Network poll of undecided voters, 40% thought Obama won the night, while 38% called it a draw; 68% said Obama would make the right decision on the economy and 41% said McCain would.
“The average person watching had to be struck by the difference between these two candidates. Obama was much more cerebral and forward looking. McCain referred to things, like Nunn-Lugar legislation, that made me wonder if people in Topeka would understand what he’s talking about,” says Larry Berman, a University of California-Davis political scientist. “The visual aspect played to Obama who tried to engage McCain, who never looked at him.”
Carnegie Mellon political scientist Kiron Skinner also believes neither candidate won the debate. “It was such a safe conversation that I don’t think anyone scored major points,” she says. “There was one time where I think Obama outmaneuvered McCain, and that was on the issue when McCain said that he would except for defense and veterans he would cut spending throughout the federal government and Obama came back and talked about child care and other things people care about. So he drew a contrast that will resonate with people.”
Skinner contends, however, that Obama should have done more to link the issue of defense spending to the funding being proposed for the financial bailout plan. “Drawing the relationship between defense spending and the overall economic picture of the country is something Obama could have done for the voter and would have scored big points,”
she says.
Berman also believes that Obama missed an opportunity on how successful the surge
has been in Iraq. “McCain kept saying the surge succeeded, but what does that mean? It might mean that you can walk three more blocks and electricity is working in 50 more households, but does it mean that when we leave this country it will be able to survive? I think the answer is no.”In some ways McCain, says Skinner, performed better than expected. “He really presented his arguments in a way that was much more thoughtful than I’ve seen him do in speeches he’s given throughout the year,” says Skinner. “He seemed to be much more in command of the facts and in his ability to relate the facts to the positions that he holds than he has
in the past. There was a sense that he had really prepared.”
Berman’s overall assessment is that there was no great line or sound bite that future historians will be able to turn to and say it turned
the election. But, he adds, “Elections are always about choices and this debate was a good example of the choice that Americans face.”