Tonight's debate brought nothing new or at least very little. I will say I think it was McCain's worst debate by far. The first 20 minutes or so I thought were absolutely terrible for McCain. He recovered somewhat, but poorly. My impressions have been wrong about the last two, so we'll see what the polls say.
I still think what to do about the economy was a missed opportunity for both candidates. I also think what to do about the deficit was also a missed opportunity.
I was very impressed with Obama's ability to counter some of McCain's best punches, especially in regards to his voting record and Ayers.
I think McCain dug himself a hole on the personal attacks piece. I almost got the feeling he was trying to play the victim and the "poor me" card.
One observation I have is about their tax policies. I wonder how McCain reconciles the anger for those in wall street (i.e. the rich) yet his insistence on supply side economics. Whatever the merits of supply side economics, do they really square with perceptions of fairness, especially now. I don't think he is selling his position very well.
I still wish Obama would highlight the failure of supply side economics to benefit the majority of Americans. If you look at real income (adjusted for inflation) over the last 20 years, the top 1% has grown by ~11% while the remaining 99% has only grown by ~1-2% (see July 26th, 2008 Economist articles Unhappy America and Workingman's Blues). Perhaps the argument is too hard to make and this is why he sticks to his tax cuts and predominantly demand side economics rather than critiquing supply side policies.
I think there are arguments for both demand side and supply side economics but ultimately this is not an either or question. I think demand side tends to benefit the vast majority of people while supply side is more effective at economic growth (think GDP). The problem is both are needed. The real question to me seems to be: How do you balance these to get the best of both? Which candidate is more likely to find this balance? While I don't think either (or anyone for that matter) is likely to get it perfectly, Obama seems far more likely to do so than McCain.
Whatever your thoughts on tonight's debate the bottom line is - this was no "game changer."
1 comment:
If I hear any more about joetheplumber I am going to throw up.
To Joe's credit, he refused to endorse anyone (as any good small business person should), and told people to go vote.
As for the debate, it was essentially a content-free zone, but that's ok. I did see a couple significant things:
-first, probably 70% or more of the total discussion was about Obama's ideas, not McCains (this is because he has some, but still, it's a good thing).
-second, McCain used sarcastic snipes constantly, and I really think that contributed to making him look like an old crank that is uncomfortable in his own skin. Obama looks cool and collected pretty much all the time. I love his line about, 'I can take the smears, what we can't take is more failed leadership...' That's a good line.
You know, both stuck to their scripts - with Obama, it meant passing up some potential jabs, but with McCain, it made him look scripted.
I wish someone would counter the McCain health insurance statement of, "we'll let you go buy any plan" with, "like hell I want to shop for insurance, anyone that has tried it would wish for some version of basic government-provided policy."
Seriously. If you have only ever had the choices presented to you by your employers, and you thought that was fun... go out on your own sometime and try. Really. (I guess I would sound like a sarcastic old crank too).
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