Debate

The first Presidential Debate of 2008 between John McCain and Barack Obama was held in Oxford, Mississippi on the night of September 26.

The first article stated that neither side delivered any "knockout punches." Each side had certain parts where they shined, but nothing crucial enough to determine a concrete winner. The first topic of the debate was how each candidate would handle the collapse of the financial system. Neither were able to provide a sufficient answer regarding this topic. Obama said he would scale back, but still want to spend money on certain areas such as health care and energy development. McCain said he would cease all spending except for large areas such as entitlements and defense. Despite the fact that neither was able to make much of an impact, each side still threw their attacks. McCain claimed that Obama doesn't understand potential threats to the U.S. around the world. Obama criticized McCain for singing "bomb bomb bomb" once at a town hall meeting.

The second article started that McCain was supposed to have an advantage going into the debate because it was mainly focusing on foreign policy and national security. However, the recent financial crisis almost canceled the entire debate. McCain said he wouldn't attend the debate unless the problem was solved. He saw enough progress, and decided to attend. The article claimed that neither candidate gave a fulfilling answer to the crisis, but Obama seemed more comfortable. It also claimed that voters are more confident in Obama regarding the economy, but McCain when it comes to foreign policy. Throughout the debate, McCain attempted to portray Obama as inexperienced, while Obama tried to tie McCain in with the Bush Administration.

In my opinion, nobody won this debate; it was tie. Both sides failed to address the main topic in question, which is the financial crisis.

First article: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Story?id=5900287&page=1

Second article: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/27/debate.analysis/index.html