09/10/2008

News / Economic Issues Dominate Second Presidential Debate

Washington — With troubles in financial markets continuing to dominate world headlines, John McCain and Barack Obama spent more than half of their second presidential debate discussing economic issues October 7.

The debate, at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, was held in a town-hall format. Members of the audience, who were uncommitted voters, posed questions directly to the candidates. For the first time, the debate’s moderator also asked questions posed by Americans on the Internet. More than 6 million questions were submitted, but only a handful were asked.

Both candidates outlined their plans for overcoming the country’s current financial problems, which both agree amount to a crisis. Obama said his plan would provide a tax cut to the middle class. Noting the health care and energy costs faced by middle-class families, the Democratic candidate said, “We’ve got to fix our health care system, we've got to fix our energy system that is putting such an enormous burden on families.”

McCain said he would order the secretary of the Department of the Treasury to buy bad home-loan mortgages and renegotiate them at the new value of those homes, enabling more Americans to be able to afford to stay in their homes.

“Is [this plan] expensive? Yes. But we all know, my friends, until we stabilize home values in America, we're never going to start turning around and creating jobs and fixing our economy,” the Republican candidate said.

A large number of Americans — 82 percent according to a September American Research Group poll — believes the economy is getting worse, yet when asked if they feel the same, neither Obama nor McCain said the economy would worsen before it got better.

“I am confident about the American economy,” Obama said. “But we are going to have to have some leadership from Washington that … sets out much better regulations for the financial system.” These regulations would include limits on the roles of lobbyists and special interests, he said.

McCain said the economy can improve “if we act effectively, if we stabilize the housing market … if we get rid of the cronyism and special interest influence in Washington so we can act more effectively.”

CANDIDATES DESCRIBE FOREIGN POLICIES

Audience members posed foreign policy questions to the candidates during the last half hour of the 90-minute debate, as the candidates outlined their international objectives and sparred over the best way to fight terrorism.
The candidates shared similar views on when it is necessary for the United States to participate in peacekeeping or peacemaking missions overseas, but they disagreed on other foreign policy goals.

“The United States of America … is the greatest force for good,” McCain said. “And we must do whatever we can to prevent genocide, whatever we can to prevent these terrible calamities [about which] we have said ‘never again.’ But it also has to be tempered with our ability to beneficially affect the situation. … This requires a person who understands what our, the limits of our capability are.”

The Arizona senator said his years of foreign policy experience have given him the judgment needed to determine whether the United States can play an influential peacemaking or peacekeeping role.

“We may not always have national security issues at stake, but we have moral issues at stake,” Obama said, referring to ongoing international conflicts such as genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan and fighting in Somalia.

“So when genocide is happening, when ethnic cleansing is happening somewhere around the world and we stand idly by, that diminishes us. And so I do believe that we have to consider it as part of our interests, our national interests, in intervening where possible,” the Illinois senator said.

The candidates outlined differing views on how to wage the war on terrorism. Much of the first presidential debate focused on fighting in Iraq; this debate primarily examined how the candidates would handle security concerns in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Obama reiterated his support for withdrawing U.S. military forces from Iraq and advocated new policies toward Pakistan.

“If we have Osama bin Laden in our sights and the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to take them out, then I think that we have to act and we will take them out. We will kill bin Laden; we will crush al-Qaida. That has to be our biggest national security priority,” Obama said.

Throughout his campaign, Obama has said he would be willing to act unilaterally to take out a terrorist target in Pakistan if the country’s government would not cooperate. McCain has argued this approach amounts to an announcement of plans to attack the country.

McCain said he would stop terrorists on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border “by working and coordinating our efforts together, not threatening to attack [Pakistan].” McCain said he would cooperate with government leaders to help gain support from the country’s people to fight terrorism, a strategy that he says has worked in Iraq.

According to a poll conducted by CNN/Opinion Research Corporation, in the first 30 minutes following the debate, 54 percent of those polled said that Obama did better; 30 percent said McCain had the stronger performance.

Video excerpts of the debate are available on the C-Span Web site. The final presidential debate, which will be about the economy and other domestic issues, is scheduled for October 15.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 100 | 101 | 102 | 103 | 104 | 105 | 106 | 107 | 108 | 109 | 110 | 111 | 112 | 113 | 114 | 115 | 116 | 117 | 118 | 119 | 120 | 121 | 122 | 123 | 124 | 125 | 126 | 127 | 128 | 129 | 130 | 131 | 132 | 133 | 134 | 135 | 136 | 137 | 138 | 139 | 140 | 141 | 142 | 143 | 144 | 145 | 146 | 147 | 148 | 149 | 150 | 151 | 152 | 153 | 154 | 155 | 156 | 157 | 158