Something McCain Should Have Said
Overall, the debate was pretty good. McCain was consistent as I expected, and Obama backtracked on many of his primary positions as I expected.
There was something I really wish McCain had hammered Obama on, though.
Obama kept bringing up that we need to focus on why the financial crisis happened, and kept blaming it on Bush (and McCain). McCain did mention that he had warned about this a few years ago, but he should have more explicitly blamed the problem directly at the feet of the Democrats.
The following video does a great job of explaining this entire mess with the mortgage crisis (note, embedded video updated):
He could have easily pointed out the political pressure that the Democrats placed on the mortgage industry, dating back to the 70’s and increased in the 90’s, to provide loans to people who would normally not qualify for them. He could have pointed out Obama’s relationship with ACORN (where he was a “community organizer”), suing and threatening banks into writing more and more risky loans and driving up home prices in the meantime. And he could have called Obama out on Jim Johnson and Franklin Raines.
I have a theory as to why he didn’t, though – McCain is currently in the middle of working out a bailout deal and didn’t want to jeopardize it by placing the blame so publicly in the Democrat’s lap, where it belongs. Still, if Obama wants to analyze the reason for the crisis, McCain should have obliged him.
Another point he could have made easily is that Obama wants to raise taxes on businesses by closing loopholes. It would have been the perfect opportunity to point out that businesses don’t pay taxes, Senator, their consumers pay the taxes, embedded in the cost of the product or service. We need politicians who are willing to point out basic economic principles when other politicians try to pander to American ignorance.
There were many other areas where McCain did hammer Obama, and I’m glad he did. Obama was definitely backing away from his position on direct presidential diplomacy. In the primary debates, he stated that within the first year he’d personally sit down with Ahmadinejad without preconditions. Tonight he tried to paint that as starting with low level ambassadors and working his way up, which is exactly what everyone else has always supported. McCain adequately explained why this is dangerous, because direct talks legitimizes the kind of behavior Ahmadinejad has been displaying. Obama then tried to make it sound like Henry Kissinger was supportive of his approach, which is absolutely ludicrous. Look for that one to be played over and over again.
The other thing McCain harped on was Obama’s stance on the surge. Obama did not, and could not, adequately explain his opposition to the surge, and would not admit that he was wrong about it.
McCain also pointed out Obama’s initial response to Russia’s invasion of Georgia was weak and unequivocal. Obama denied it, but it’s true. His initial statement was “I strongly condemn the outbreak of violence in Georgia, and urge an immediate end to armed conflict.” McCain, on the other hand, called Russia out by saying “Russia should immediately and unconditionally cease its military operations and withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgian territory.” The differences are rather huge.