Posted by
Armanius on Monday, August 18, 2008 11:54:23 AM
The "Showdown" at Saddleback was of course not an explicit showdown. It was not a debate. It was a Q&A answer where Pastor Rick Warren asked questions to each of the candidates without the presence of the other candidate. Warren asked the same questions to both candidates. While it was not a debate, this format actually worked great in differentiating the candidates. Here are my thoughts on the "showdown." This is not a comprehensive list of the differences, just my initial observations. I will likely discuss some times in more detail later. In interest of full disclosure, I am a McCain supporter. For the full transcript of the Warren interviews, click
here.
General observations:
(1) Obama spoke in generalities and avoided making any bright line stances on issues. Obama failed to give definite answers to some of the questions, and took a much more "careful" approach by attempting to not offend anyone.
(2) McCain was much more decisive in his answers, and often showing much more passion for his beliefs than Obama. There were a couple of instances where McCain gave his answers before Warren was done with the question. Obama campaign is accusing McCain of having heard the questions during Obama's portion of the interview.
(3) Obama's lack of significant life changing experiences, which is partly due because he is much younger than McCain, really showed in his answers. As Obama talked about his past experiences as part of some of the answers he gave, there was no real sense of revealing who he is, and making an emotional connection with the audience.
(4) In contrast, McCain's experiences really made a connection with the audience. I personally got choked up a couple of times, particularly when McCain said that his toughest choice was to forego the option of early release from Vietnamese captivity which resulted in three or so additional years of torture. When McCain said that, you could see that it is still a difficult and emotional subject for him to talk about.
National security and foreign policy:
(1) Obama again talked about obtaining internaitonal consensus and support to act. He wisely strayed from saying that America needs U.N. approval before acting, but then followed up by saying that America still needs international support. He used Bosnia as an example of not having U.N. approval while at the same time having international support. Obama talked about "containing" evil when asked by Warren whether or not evil exists, and whether America should leave it alone, negotiate with it, contain it, or defeat it. Obama's answer was contain evil, and used the genocide in Dafour as an example of evil. Obama also pointed out that America has domestic evil and that America should approach confrontations of evil with humility, because America has been guilty of doing evil, even though America may have had good intentions.
(2) McCain on the other hand said that evil must be "defeated." McCain didn't even hesitate for a second in providing that answer, unlike Obama's calculated and measured response. McCain talked about defeating Al Qaida saying that nobody attacks our country and goes unscathed. This again was a very powerful response made by McCain as he said that he will follow Bin Laden to the gates of hell if necessary to bring Bin Laden to justice.
Economy:
(1) Obama said that rich people are the families that make above $250K annually, and called the middle and lower class families who make below $150K. I am not sure what Obama thinks about families that make between $150K and $250K. Obama said that people above $250K would see a moderate increase in taxes, while people under $150K would see a tax cut. Obama's reasoning for increased taxes is that the government needs more money to pay for services that the country wants. And Obama said that the government needs money to pay for the wars.
(2) McCain said that there is really not a definition in terms of annual salary as to who is rich and who is not. Rather, rich can be sometimes defined by having a family, a house, and being happy. McCain said that if Warren really wants a dollar figure, how about $5 million. McCain then quickly said that his opponents are going to have a field day with his $5 million statement, but that his point is that he wants everyone to pay less taxes. He said that tax revenues are not problem. It's the irresponsible spending of tax payers dollars such as using $3 million of taxpayer's money in studying bear DNA. McCain joked that he wasn't sure if the DNA study was related to a criminal proceeding or paternity testing.
Social, moral, and ethical issues:
(1) Obama refused to give an unequivocal answer as to when does a baby receive rights, when Warren talked about abortion. Obama stated firmly that he believes in Roe v. Wade. And then he said that he wants to pass programs to encourage woman to not have abortions by providing them with options to keep the babies alive. Obama said that Bush's anti-abortion policies have not reduced the number of abortions (he is wrong). Obama also stated that most women who undergo abortion are not making these decisions without carefully thinking about it. Obama generally said that he would continue to support embryo stem cell research, but that he hopes that stem cell adult research will eventually curtail the need for embryo stem cell research. Obama said his selfishness as a youth, which led him to use drugs and drink, was one of his greatest moral failure.
(2) McCain said he is firmly pro-life, and strongly said that babies have rights at the time of conception. He also talked about adoptions when Warren asked about a federal plan to help the 140 or so million orphans around the world. McCain gave an example about the adoption of a daughter that Cindy McCain met when doing some work with Mother Theresa. McCain said that new skin stem cell research makes debate about the need of embryo stem cell research moot. McCain said that his failed first marriage was his greatest moral failure.
Flip flops and reaching accross party lines
(1) Obama talked about welfare reform as a change in position. However, he was not very clear which direction he changed to. His example of reaching across party lines was campaign ethics and finance. He said he reached to McCain in his first year in the senate. But he forgot to mention that he then backtracked after being criticized by fellow Dems, which actually infuriated McCain.
(2) McCain's flip flop was offshore drilling. He said that he reached across party lines on issues like torture, out of control spending, and climante change.
List 3 people whom you would rely heavily upon in your administration
(1) For some odd reason, Obama decided to talk about his wife and grandmother first. Then he said that "in terms of administration" he would rely on more than three people. He went to to list Sam Nunn, Dick Lugar, Tom Colburn, and Ted Kennedy.
(2) McCain's three advisors would be General David Petraeus, Representative John Lewis (D-Ga), and Meg Whitman, CEO of Ebay.