The Looking Glass

The Last Straw

The evening of October 15, 2008 concluded the final presidential debate of the 2008 election. Many citizens around the United States have made up their decision of whom to vote for, making this debate focused toward the few swing voters remaining.
Republican Senator, John McCain, made his last push towards the middle-class Americans by referring to “Joe the Plummer” saying “Joe wants to buy the business he has been in for all these years, worked 10, 12 hours a day. And he (Senator Obama) wanted to buy the business but he looked at your tax plan and he saw that he was going to pay much higher taxes…Now Senator Obama talks about the rich, very rich. Joe, I want to tell you, I’ll not only help you buy that business that you worked your whole life for and be able – and I’ll keep your taxes low and provide available and affordable health care for you and your employees.”
Barack Obama responded “What I’ve said is that I want to provide a tax cut for 95 percent of working Americans, 95 percent. If you make more – if you make less than a quarter of a million dollars a year, then you will not see your income tax go up, your capital gains go up, your payroll tax. Not one dime. And percent of working families, 95 percent of you out there will get a tax cut.”
There is no doubt that America is in the largest financial crisis in recent history. Tax cuts would serve a relief for many families throughout the country. I think Obama made a good
statement when implying that independent studies proved that his tax relief plan for the middle-class families was better than Senator McCain’s.
CNN News claimed the true winner of the debate to be Joe Wurzelbacher, informally known as “Joe the Plumber”, an Ohio plumber who is about to purchase a plumbing company. Overall, I believe that the last debate was a stalemate, in terms of who won. The debate consisted mainly of economic topics; fitting considering the economic stand in America. McCain wants to stop deficit spending completely. Obama says deficit spending freeze just won’t work. The United States apparently doesn’t take in enough money to keep itself out of debt. In that case, cutting deficit spending wouldn’t make a difference. We need to continue to use deficit spending in order to keep with other countries in technology, economy, etc.
One question that was not directly related to economics was “Why would the country be better off if your running mate became president rather than his running mate?” This question intrigued me the most because I was anxious to see what Senator McCain would say about his running mate Sarah Palin. Senator Obama mentioned his running mate Joe Biden to have been one of the finest public servants that has served this country. It’s hard not to like what Biden has to bring to the table. He comes from Scranton, fighting on behalf of working families, and knows what it’s like to see his father lose his job and go through an economic twister. Obama says that as a consequence, his persistent pattern throughout his career is to fight for the little guy. That’s what he has done relating to economic policies. He fights to do whatever he can to get the lower-class families a boost in the economy. Biden is a feature fit for the lower-class and middle-class. He has proven that he will work hard to make sure they see their benefits.
Following the discussion of Joe Biden was John McCain’s discussion of the highly touted Sarah Palin. I was anxious to hear what McCain would say about not just a possible predecessor of the President of the United States of America, as well as the Vice President, but the possible first woman president in the history of the United States of America. Senator McCain had quite the plethora of positive things Palin has done in her time as a government official. McCain stated “Americans know that she’s a role model to woman and other reformers all over America. She’s given money back to the taxpayers. She’s cut the size of government. She’s negotiated with the oil companies and faced them down, a $40 billion pipeline that’s going to relieve the energy needs of the United -- of what they call the lower 48.”
It’s hard not to support someone with the background of Sarah Palin. There has never been a woman that has stretched as far as she has into government positions, in particular the presidential election. I thought McCain focused too much on autism and how it relates to Palin. Autism is on the rise like he said, although upon the outlook of America financially, it’s indecisive to say that we need to put much of our focus and money into learning and trying to find the cure for it.
Bob Schieffer followed by asking Obama if he thought Palin was qualified to be a U.S. President. This was a question that had to be carefully answered by Obama. He couldn’t afford to respond with an answer that could have been portrayed as sexist or prejudice. I believed he answered it perfectly by saying it should be left up to the American people to decide if she’s capable. He said that she’s obviously more than capable and has excited a base in the Republican Party. I liked that Obama touched base on what I had said about the autism topic.
He said he wanted to point out autism and other special needs programs would cost additional funding if we were to take it to serious terms. Senator McCain believed that Biden was qualified by many rights but pointed out he’d been wrong on many foreign policy and national security issues. In the final debate of the election, I believe the last straw, or the final swing votes, didn’t go toward either candidate. The candidates went back and forth winning topics. As CNN News stated, “John McCain came out of the gate strong, but Barack Obama gained strength as the night progressed Wednesday in the final presidential debate where each candidate tried to convince voters that he is better equipped to steer the nation through these troubled times.”

posted by Trevor @ 11:03 PM