The final debate of the 2008 election campaign was a tension filled debate to say the least. Obama and McCain talked about many issues such as taxes, abortion, the negativity of the campaign, etc. The beginning of the debate surrounded a man dubbed “Joe the Plumber” (whose real name is Joe Wurzelbacher) who attended a town hall meeting in Ohio where he asked Obama about raising taxes for people who earned over 250,000 a year. Obama responded by stating McCains tax plan will give tax cuts to big corporations while Obama’s tax plan will cut taxes for the middle class, “Perhaps Joe will pay more now, he said, but his tax plan would have helped him when he was just getting started.”
One of the key things most people remember from the final debate is where McCain boldy disputed Obama’s constant attack on McCain by claiming he is just like President Bush by exclaiming “"Sen. Obama, I am not President Bush….. you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago." Obama responded by saying on the core economic issues that matter most to the American people McCain has strongly supported President Bush on.
McCain and Obama also talked about how the campaign has turned negative. McCain also raised suspicions about Obama’s ties with William Ayers and a organization called ACORN.
Personally, I feel whole debate was about John McCain taking jabs at Obama. As in other debates I felt I didn’t really learn anything new or feel swayed any particular way. More than anything I learned more about their personalitys. I feel like for McCain this debate was the last one for him to prove himself as someone who could lead
Questions to consider:
Who do you think won the debate?What did you think of John McCains use of “Joe the plumber”? Did it work for him or did it end up hurting him in the end?
What did you think about what he told Obama that he “was not President Bush and if he wanted to run against President Bush he should have run four years ago?”
What did you think of Obama’s reactions? Should he have been more aggressive?
Do you think this debate helped sway undecided voters?
Do you think this campaign has turned into a negative campaign?
3 comments:
The last presidential debate was definitely more heated and intense than previous debates. In my opinion, this debate may have swayed undecided voters, but it still wasn't enough to really put one candidate ahead over the other.
This election is the most exciting election that I have witnessed and could be a part of. The campaign has turned somewhat negative because people have such strong opinions about who they want to vote for, but in terms of the presidential candidates being negative, I don't think that it is something to pay too much attention to. They both knew that this was their last chance to make a difference to an individual about their vote and about what their campaign entailed. It is right to act more intense during the last debate.
McCain did act angrier and did show more emotion than Obama, and his comment that has everyone buzzing was definitely a bold statement. However, I think it should have been said if that's how McCain truly felt. McCain does agree with many of the same ideas of Bush and I think it's right for Obama to bring that up because that's the main target for his campaign.."the last eight years."
Obama was not very aggressive because he isn't emotionally aggressive. I think his beliefs and ideas are aggressive enough and he does not need to show a hint of emotional instability like McCain did, in my opinion. The people who have chosen to vote for Obama know the man that he is and they have already made their decision that he would be a good leader. This debate should not have changed many people's opinions of him, but it could have changed people's opinions of McCain because he let himself become more vulnerable when he showed those emotions on screen.
Overall, I think Obama won the debate, I may be bias at this point, but Obama seemed more calm and collected and more of a leader than McCain who was all over the place emotionally and who seemed more disheveled.
I do think that the last debate was the best of the three. I believe that both candidates did a very good job with there opening and closing statements and even answering the questions to some extent. It seemed that John McCain had a little bit more on the line and had to prove that he could get his message through to the people. Even though I would consider myself an Obama supporter, i think that McCain did a little bit better in this debate. However, I think McCain put more on the line and Obama knew that as long as he didn't blow anything that he would still be well off.
John Mccain Has been behind in the polls and everyone thought that he would show up and do well in the second Presidential debate and really didn't. In this Debate he did a good job of showing Obama's weaknesses on the issues and letting the audience know what his views were. The only thing that i didn't like about what McCain did was his excessive use of the " Joe the Plumber" metaphor and how he seemed to accuse Barack Obama of everything.
Barack however, kept his cool and did a good job of clearing up everything that he was accused of. He spent most of the night on the defensive, trying to explain himself with the whole Bill Ayers thing, and also the ACORN scandal.
In the final presidential debate I found that the candidates had their best performance yet. Unfortunately, that is not saying much. Throughout this presidential race, and particularly in the debates, the candidates have been vague and indirect when questioned on critical issues covering a way array of subjects. Senator McCain impressed me with his rebuttal to Senator Obama's constant mention of his ties to the Bush Administration. On the other hand, he did a poor job at defending his tax policies in particular. Senator McCain's use of "Joe the Plumber" was tactically very sharp, and unquestionably drew the attention of small business owners across the land. Senator Obama did an excellent job when discussing health care, and was especially successful when disputing the allocation of American tax dollars.
As for the discussion of negative ads, I really found it irrelevant and an obvious characteristic of any presidential race of this magnitude, with the stakes so high.
Overall, I think that the debate was not a decisive victory for either candidate. I think the American media decided who won the debate for us. Nobody told me anything I didn't already know, or couldn't logically figure out. In terms of demeanor, no candidate impressed me or turned me off. I hope that American voters don't go by television alone. We need to educate ourselves by seeking unbiased information. By their nature these candidates will tell us what we want to hear. I hope that voters will chose the candidate who will DO the most for America, rather than the man who can say the most. I don't know who that candidate is yet, but I hope we pick the right man for the job.
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