Well, the first debate is history. Initial reactions? Contrary to many news agencies I found the debate very dull and predictable. Both candidates said what they wanted to say (did anyone else realize the sheer number of instances in which the senators used the exact same phrases and statements took from the campaign trail?), attacked each other, then refuted what the attacker has just said, and so on ad infinitum. As a result, a common citizen who does not follow the campaign closely might not have seen many major differences between them. The issue on starting the war in Iraq was just pointless and bizarre. Not many people are interested who voted for what or what should/could have been done, but rather what can be done now. Luckily, later they switched to a more present day approach. Jim Lehrer had to ask 3 times the same question about the bailout to get any coherent answer from either candidate, in the end not looking satisfied anyway. There was alot of fake smiles and condescending animosity (Obama addressed McCain as John many times, but I do not remember McCain saying Barack, an interesting point, but I might have missed an instance of the contrary). On a good note, the debate was very useful to people who are just tuning into the race and want to know what the candidates think and not want to spend more than hour and a half on it.
Who won? Some say it was a tie, some it was Obama. I think Obama won, but not by a lot. McCain had strong offense, though his defense could use some polishing. Obama kept his style and remained calm, which served him well. I await to see the post-debate polls.
On a similar note, I am involved in a joint project called The Moderometer (now available at http://themoderometer.blogspot.com/, but soon to be at http://www.moderometer.com/). We take what the candidates say and then allocate a percentage depending on how “moderate” is the statement. I welcome you to check on that, and as we progress I will mention major updates on this blog.
The real thing everyone is waiting for is coming with the next debate: the Palin vs. Biden showdown. I am looking forward to reading someone’s post with the drinking game rules for that debate.
Tags: debate, McCain, Moderometer, Obama
